their caps of charter schools and
to eliminate any legal barriers to
evaluating teachers by test scores.
Because the money was derived
from the stimulus funds, the Race
to the Top was never subject to
Congressional authorization. It is
unlikely that Congress would have
approved these priorities, which
please Republicans but are inconsistent with the customary Democratic
support for equity.
The Obama administration has
proposed to reauthorize N.C.L.B.
by removing its name, eliminating
the 2014 target for 100 percent proficiency, and relieving most districts
from its regime of “measure and
punish.” However, the administration proposes to target the lowestperforming 5 percent of schools —
some 5,000 schools — for draconian
action. They may be closed, they
may be turned into charter schools
or turned over to private management, or handed over to the state.
This approach is based directly on
N.C.L.B. It is harsh and punitive.
There is no evidence that any of
these “remedies” will produce better
schools. Charter schools, for example, now enroll 3 percent of pupils;
they range in quality from excellent
to abysmal, and on the whole, they
do not produce better performance
than regular public schools.
Every low-performing school
should be carefully evaluated to
determine the reasons for its low
performance. Where help is needed, the state should provide it.
Education is a helping profession,
one that teaches the importance of
investing in improvement rather
than punishment.
Federal education policy today is
on the wrong track. The more we
pursue the failed policies of the
past, the more disappointed we will
be. We must strengthen the education profession with better superintendents, principals, and teachers. We must improve curriculum,
instruction, and assessment. It is
time to think boldly and constructively about the real changes needed
to strengthen and rebuild American
public education. #
Diane Ravitch is research professor of education at New York
University and author of The Death
and Life of the Great American
School System: How Testing and
Choice Are Undermining Education.

Great Teachers Yield
Excellence for Students

By JOEL I. KLEIN
he past decade brought
long-overdue accountability to public education and cast a spotlight on a shameful achievement
gap that had gone unaddressed
for generations. The Elementary
and Secondary Education Act
(E.S.E.A.) — known currently as
No Child Left Behind — rightfully
demanded that all children, regardless of background, have access to
a high-quality education.
There is widespread consensus that this legislation can be
improved. Its focus on absolute
achievement, instead of progress,
labeled many schools as “failing”
even when students made significant gains.
As Congress debates how best
to reform E.S.E.A., however, it
is essential that legislators do not
abandon aspects of the law that
have benefited students. In particular, we must resist the premise that
we can never fix education until
we end poverty. This is exactly
backward: We will never eliminate
poverty until we fix education.
It is easy to understand the appeal
of claims that schools cannot overcome family circumstances, as it
allows us to evade blame for the
fact that so many schools are failing. But we have clear evidence
that great schools can make an
enormous difference for our children, and it is our moral responsibility to take the tough, and even
controversial, steps necessary to
ensure that all schools help students succeed.
Consider the latest National
Assessment
of
Educational
Progress math scores, which show
significant variation among similar,
high-need students in different cities. In Boston, Charlotte, New York
and Houston, fourth-graders scored
20 to 30 points higher than students
in the same socio-economic group
in Detroit, Milwaukee, Los Angeles
and the District of Columbia.
To put this in context, 10 points
approximates one year of learning, which means that by fourth
grade, students in some urban districts are two to three years behind
their peers in other cities. If these
data were broken out for different
schools and classrooms, that gap
would likely grow.

JUNE 2010

EDUCATION UPDATE

By DIANE RAVITCH, Ph.D.
ducation is at a crossroads in the United
States today. After eight
years of the regime of
No Child Left Behind, we are worse
off than when we started. I say
we are worse off because that federal legislation, which promised so
much, has failed. Despite hundreds
of millions or billions of dollars
invested in testing and test prep
materials, test scores on the National
Assessment of Educational Progress
have barely budged.
Math scores are up, but they have
risen more slowly than in the years
preceding N.C.L.B. Reading scores
have not improved at all. The reading scores of eighth-grade students
were the same in 2009 as they were
in 1998. These are students who
grew up with N.C.L.B. They were
tested regularly in 2003, 2004, 2005,
2006, 2007, 2008, and 2009. And
they saw no gains on the federal
test, which is intended as an audit of
state scores.
N.C.L.B., which is still alive even
though it is not well, has had other
corrosive effects. First, it encouraged states to dumb down their
standards, in hopes of reaching the
elusive goal of 100 percent proficiency. Second, it created utopian
expectations by mandating that all
students would be proficient by
2014, a goal that was unattainable.
Third, by setting an unrealistic goal,
it has undermined public confidence in public education and set
the stage for privatization. Fourth,
it promoted the simpleminded belief
that “accountability” meant “punishment.” If all students don’t reach
proficiency, someone must be held
accountable. Their school must be
closed or taken over by some private entity or by the state. Heads
must roll.
So, as states lowered their standards or rigged their testing systems,
state scores rose handsomely, but the
scores on the national tests did not.
At the same time, the clamor for
privately managed charter schools
grew louder. Entrepreneurs discovered that they too could open charter schools, winning public acclaim
while trumpeting their superiority over regular public schools. The
charter school founders and advocates worked hard to avoid any
linkage to “privatization,” but they
were nonetheless busily engaged in
demonstrating that private management would produce better results
and higher test scores than public
management of public schools.
Many, probably most, educators
assumed that the election of Barack
Obama would mean an end to the
harsh and joyless culture created by
N.C.L.B. and an end to efforts to
undermine public education. They
were wrong.
The Obama administration is as
committed to accountability and
choice as the George W. Bush
administration. The Obama-Duncan
Race to the Top fund offered nearly
$5 billion to states in competitive
grants if they only agreed to remove

■

Research clearly demonstrates
that teachers are the most influential factor in student success.
An excellent teacher significantly
boosts student learning, and having three highly effective teachers
in a row can actually eliminate
the achievement gap. Meanwhile,
a student who has three low-performing teachers in a row falls so
far behind that it is difficult to make
up that lost ground. Regrettably,
students with the greatest needs
have more limited access to topnotch teachers, and that is driving
the achievement gap among districts, schools and students.
As Congress considers reauthorization of E.S.E.A., members
should focus on strategies to attract
and retain excellent teachers,
ensuring that the most effective
teachers are distributed equitably.
Taking the following steps will go
a long way to improving achievement nationwide, but especially
among our highest-need students.
First, we must attract teachers
who performed well in college.
Countries that do best on international tests draw teachers from the
top third of college graduates. In
the United States, most teachers
come from the bottom third.
Second, we must create sophisticated evaluation systems that
reward excellence rather than
seniority alone. We also must
make it easier to remove ineffective teachers from the classroom.
Third, we must incentivize
excellent teachers to work with
high-need students and in highneed schools and shortage subject areas.
These are game-changing
reforms, but they are grounded in
common sense.
While poverty and difficult
family circumstances present real
challenges, our most talented educators help students overcome
those challenges every day. As we
reform E.S.E.A., we must have the
courage to take on a status quo that
puts the concerns of adults before
the needs of children. We must
adopt fundamental changes that
— if done right — will transform
students’ lives and advance the
future of our nation. #
Joel I. Klein is the chancellor of
the New York City Department of
Education.

reaking boundaries in science at The City University of New York — Whether
investigating the most basic or far-reaching genetic and molecular research, or finding ways
to provide better nutrition to starving populations, women scientists at all CUNY colleges
are conducting pioneering research of world-wide importance. In addition, they are teaching
and working with outstanding students in the newest areas of basic and applied science in
laboratories and classrooms through CUNY’s “Decade of Science.” The new CUNY
Advanced Science Research Center at City College, now being built, with construction and Matthew Goldstein
Chancellor
programming planned by Vice Chancellor for Facilities Planning, Management and
Construction Iris Weinshall and Vice Chancellor for Research Gillian Small, will offer the most advanced
scientific research facilities and opportunities for cross-disciplinary collaboration to all CUNY scientists.

For more information about
CUNY women in science visit www.cuny.edu/decadeofscience

5

6

SPOTLIGHT ON SCHOOLS

■

EDUCATION UPDATE

Hurricane Ivan Scholarship Winner
Lerone Bleasdille of Grenada
Selected as Class of 2010
Valedictorian at City Tech
Out of devastation emerged opportunity for
Lerone Bleasdille, New York City College of
Technology’s (City Tech) 2010 valedictorian.
He arrived at City Tech as a result of Hurricane
Ivan in 2004, which decimated most of the
buildings in his native country, Grenada. The
former resident of St. George’s Parish had a few
scares but was lucky: the hurricane destroyed
only one room in his father’s home, where he
lived with his oldest sister. Unable to get through
to the rest of his family in the Northern Parish of
St. David’s for a week, he eventually found out
that his mother, stepfather and siblings were safe
and had opened their home to neighbors who had
no place to stay.
It was Bleasdille’s mother, then an administrator in the prime minister’s office, who learned
that The City University of New York, in partnership with the Grenada Mission, was offering 15
college scholarships to Grenadian students as a
humanitarian initiative.
At the time, Bleasdille, who held an associate
degree in information technology from Grenada’s
T.A. Marryshow Community College, was working in a local bank as a commercial teller. He
applied for and won one of the CUNY scholarships, and chose to study at City Tech because
it was the only one of the four participating
CUNY colleges to offer computer science-related
majors. The scholarship paid for his tuition during his years at City Tech.
“If I hadn’t received this scholarship, I would
have stayed in my bank job for two more years.
Then, I would have taken a loan to try and get
into a U.S. college,” notes Bleasdille, 24, who
will graduate with a bachelor of technology
degree in computer systems and deliver the valedictory address at City Tech’s commencement in
the Theater at Madison Square Garden.
What drives Bleasdille, an East Flatbush resident, in his academic work and many community
activities is passion. “My valedictory speech will
have two themes: finding your passion, which is
going to push you to succeed, and appreciating
the value of negative people in your life as well
as the positive, supportive ones,” he explains. “If
someone negates what you want to do, it makes
you want it more. It actually helps. You may not
realize it at first.”
He says he learned this lesson when a professor
told him to drop a class because he’d missed the
first two weeks while completing an internship
and wouldn’t be able to catch up. “I took the
opportunity to prove him wrong and ended up
getting an A,” he says.
Grateful for his own scholarship experience,
Bleasdille, who served as president of City Tech’s
Student Government Association (S.G.A.) and
later as senator-at-large and treasurer, recognized
the need to provide scholarships for international
students who ordinarily were ineligible due to
residency requirements.
With the strong support of the City Tech
Foundation and its executive director, Jewel
Trowers-Escobar, he and some fellow students
established the merit-based S.G.A. Trust Award,
which soon will announce its first awards of
$2,000 each to three full-time students.
Leadership and creativity are two qualities
Bleasdille exhibits in abundance, having served
as lead reporter of the college’s student newspaper, New Tech Times, president of the Martial
Arts Club, and vice president of the E-commerce
Club, in addition to his student government posts.
While gravitating toward a career in technology, Bleasdille says he “found himself as a
creative writer” at City Tech. “I used to write
poetry in high school and sometimes perform it,”
he explains. “My first English professor at City
Tech gave me great feedback on my writing and
encouraged me to enter the college’s Literary
Arts Festival competition. I won first prize in
both the poetry and short story categories two

years in a row,” he proudly
notes.
Says Professor Caroline
Hellman, the festival coordinator, “Lerone helped pioneer
S.G.A.’s involvement in the
festival; now there is an annual SGA writing prize, usually
on a community or academic
topic.” This year, says Bleasdille, “I entered
all sections of the competition: poetry, fiction,
drama, humor and essay. It’s my last semester. I
might as well go all out!” He received prizes this
year for fiction, poetry, essay and drama.
Bleasdille credits his drive and multiple interests partly to the example set by his late father,
Leroy Neckles, who died in 2008. Neckles,
a U.S.-educated business turnaround specialist,
held numerous executive posts, such as first
general manager of Grenada’s Point Salines
International Airport, manager of government
agencies in Grenada and Guyana, and president
of Rotary International. Says Bleasdille, “He told
me, ‘Leaders are never people who want to lead;
they are the people others ask to lead.’ I always
remember that statement; it means you’re doing
something right when people believe in you.
You’re already a leader to your supporters —
now they want to make it official.”
While Neckles did not live to see Bleasdille
graduate from City Tech, he was instrumental
in his son being able to come to the U.S. to
study. One of the criteria for the Grenada-CUNY
scholarship was having a friend or relative living in New York. At the time, Neckles was here
being treated for kidney disease, which meant
Bleasdille qualified.
Bleasdille also credits his mother for “her
indomitable spirit and unquenchable support,” he
says. “She’s read all my stories and poems. While
my father set the education bar high, my mother
built my character.”
His mother, as well as his stepmother, two
aunts, two uncles and six cousins, will be attending City Tech’s commencement.
Bleasdille applied himself to his coursework in
his major, completing four honors projects for his
math and programming courses. He also did three
internships, instead of just the one required, picking up experience in his field at Goldman Sachs,
the Department of Education, and Mixed Media
Solutions, Web-design company. Of his interest
in software development, creating programs and
designing Web sites, he says, “I like the creative
aspect of computer systems, designing solutions
for challenging problems.”
To gain more work experience, he is applying for the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration
Services’ Optional Practical Training program. It
places non-immigrant full-time students (F-1 visa
status) who have completed or have been pursuing college degrees in STEM majors (Science,
Technology, Engineering, or Mathematics) in fulltime jobs for up to 29 months.
One of the most important things he has gained
from his time at City Tech is a broader understanding of life. “I’ve been exposed to different
cultures; I’ve met people from most of the countries in the world — it’s like the United Nations
here — and I’ve made many friends.”
To anyone considering attending City Tech, he
advises, “Come in and see it for yourself, talk to
students and professors in your major, research
what kind of job you can get after graduation.
Find your passion; you can make a career of
it; prospective employers will pick up on your
enthusiasm.” #
New York City College of Technology of The
City University of New York is the largest public
college of technology in New York state. Located
at 300 Jay Street in Downtown Brooklyn, the
college enrolls more than 15,400 students in 61
baccalaureate, associate and specialized certificate programs. An additional 15,000 students
annually enroll in continuing education and
workforce-development programs.

TECHNOLOGY FOR STUDENTS
WITH L EARNING C HALLENGES
By DR. BONNIE BROWN

By McCARTON ACKERMAN
Autism has become a more widely discussed
topic in the news, perhaps due to the rapid
increase in the number diagnoses over the last
decade. Most reports on disorders among children tend to focus on the negative implications.
However, with appropriate and aggressive treatment at an early age, these disorders can be overcome.
Sammy and Steve are 5-year-old twin boys
born to Ricki and Stephen Goe. Raised in Crotonon-Hudson, N.Y., the twins were born 24 weeks
early and were in neo-natal intensive care for
over 100 days. Sammy would have to be rehospitalized on two more occasions, one of which
required him to be placed in a coma to undergo
throat surgery.
“It was shocking and disturbing because they
told us there was a 30 percent chance of survival
and a 5 percent chance of not having neurological
impairments,” says Ricki. “We were just told to
worry about getting through one day, then getting
through the week. We were praying for the best.”
Although Sammy started receiving therapy a
month after birth, he was eventually diagnosed
with cerebral palsy and spastic disploma, which
involves spastic movements below the waist.
Sammy now receives speech, physical, and occupational therapy through C.P.S.E., while Steve
receives physical therapy in addition to occupational therapy one day per week. “When Sammy
first began therapy, he couldn’t write a single
recognizable letter,” says Stephen. “He’s been
working on that and his speech with therapists
and sitters who are specialized with this population, and it’s gotten much better.”
Ricki says that although there were multiple
signs of progress throughout therapy, there was

one in particular that stood out. “When he was
six months old I said to get the blue ball, and he
crawled to it. I started to cry. I despaired a lot in
the beginning, but that moment made me realize
that things were going to work out.”
Under the recommendation of Sammy’s speech
therapist, both twins attended the same preschool
together and received therapy outside the school.
Attending preschool proved to be a huge help for
Sammy. Within a matter of days, the progress in
his speech was apparent to everyone. “His vocabulary exploded after a week of being around
other children,” says Ricki. “It also helped that
we had a better understanding of what his nonvocalizations meant.”
This progress is also showing up on standardized evaluations. Although Sammy is only in the
6th percentile among similarly aged children for
speech, this number is up from what it was previously. Conversely, he is in the 98th percentile for
being able to follow instructions.
Stephen says that he feels extremely lucky for
the services that the school district has provided
for his children. “You hear stories about families
not being able to receive adequate services for
their children, but I can honestly say that we’ve
been blessed with what we’ve been given in that
regard. The therapists educate the families as well
as the kids.”
Above anything else, both Ricki and Stephen
encourage families of children with developmental disabilities to remain strong and have hope.
“You can get overwhelmed by what you read
online sometimes,” says Stephen. “However, just
because you read someone else’s story doesn’t
mean that will happen to you. Have faith and
hope because you just don’t know what will happen two or three years down the road.” #

The Windward Teacher Training Institute, a division of Windward School,
provides professional development based on scientifically validated research
in child development, learning theory and pedagogy. The accredited training
program offers extensive coursework and supervised teaching experience
leading to national certification in multisensory structured language education.

We live in a technological age in
which educators are struggling to
keep students on task and focused
on learning. They are challenged
daily by students who are enthralled
with Facebook, Twitter and other
social networking platforms. We
evidence student achievement
using Web-based intervention programs such as Read 180, Achieve
3000 or 24 Game.
Thus, it is readily evident that our students are
mesmerized by their ability to socially interact
online, interface with their peers/classmates in
classrooms using Smartboards, and improve their
content area skills using Web-based programs.
However, our students with cognitive and learning challenges, although equally motivated by
the Internet, often do not have the requisite
skill set to use these programs to improve their
functioning in classrooms or in the community.
Therefore, it becomes imperative for creative
program designers to fill the void and allow
our students with disabilities the same access to
Internet resources and to further their skills in an
adapted, real life environment.
One such program is the 3D World Project in
District 75, which was designed as a substitute
program for real life community-based learning
experiences for young adults either on the spectrum or with developmental delays. In neighboring suburban school districts, BOCES or the
school community have purchased actual homes
where students can report daily to participate in
community living and to develop habilitative
living skills, such as caring for a home, banking,
shopping, socializing, or dealing with emergen-

cies. This type of program assists
them in developing necessary
survival skills in a real-life environment and then in generalizing
those skills to other environments
in the community. Unfortunately,
New York City does not have
access to the type of real estate
necessary to implement a similar
program. Therefore, the district
has developed an online community where students are represented by an avatar bearing their name that they
can dress and operate, facilitating the learning of
the necessary skills for living independently.
The actual course content of the program
is aligned with the New York State Learning
Standards in Language Arts, Mathematics and,
more importantly, the Career Development curriculum. Much of the program focuses on the
development of social skills, a lack of which is
the primary reason our graduates are not successful either in job placements or in community
living. They often can get a job and learn the
prerequisite skills to do it, but are dismissed for
inappropriate behaviors, poor personal hygiene,
or lack of coping skills. By giving our students an
opportunity to learn these skills in an online environment and then to practice them in class and
in the community at work sites while still under
teacher supervision, we are optimizing their
opportunities for post-school success. Students
are taught how to deal with common social
nuances we take for granted in our daily lives,
such as how many times you can ring a neighbor’s doorbell in one day, how to prepare when
inviting guests to spend some time at your home,

continued on page 9

JUNE 2010

■

EDUCATION UPDATE

■

SPECIAL EDUCATION

9

Working Toward Empowerment
and Inclusion: Tim Shriver

Established in 1958 by
Rose F. & Joseph P. Kennedy
to serve young children
with developmental disabilities
and related challenges.

50 Years & Counting . . .

THE CENTER’S PROGRAMS INCLUDE:

EDUCATION PRESCHOOL
SPECIAL
INTERVENTION
EARLY

RESPITE SERVICES

FAMILY SUPPORT SERVICES

MEDICAID SERVICE
COORDINATION

MANHATTAN
151 East 67th Street
New York, NY 10065
212-988-9500

BRONX
1028 East 179th Street
Bronx, NY 10460
718-842-0200

1071B
East Tremont Avenue
Bronx, NY 10460
718-842-8942

www.kenchild.org

Tim Shriver with young children in South Africa

By McCARTON ACKERMAN
Although the special-needs population has
been receiving far more media and press attention in recent years, one trailblazer was pioneering this movement well before activism for
this group ever took place. Tim Shriver, part
of the famous Kennedy clan, has been working with disadvantaged and underprivileged
youth throughout his life. In addition to being
a board member of Malaria No More, he is the
chairman and C.E.O. of Special Olympics and a
former teacher in the New Haven public education system.
Born in Boston, Shriver attended Yale
University before receiving his master’s in religion from The Catholic University of America
and his Ph.D. in education from the University
of Connecticut.
Although he served as a teacher in the New
Haven school system, it is his work with the
special-needs population that Shriver is arguably best known for. “My mother was very
active with this population, and we followed
suit as a result,” says Shriver. “That was where
the Special Olympics came from. It was the
platform that showed all kids matter; they have
value and they can contribute.”
The Special Olympics is an international athletic competition held every two years for people
with intellectual disabilities. There are also
local, regional and national competitions in over
150 countries worldwide. More than three million athletes are involved in Special Olympics
training and competitions.
“When you talk to kids with special needs
and their parents, the problem isn’t so much an

Bonnie Brown

continued from page 8

how to use an A.T.M. to access cash, and how to
recognize an emergency and knowing whom to
call. These skills are taught in much the way the
three R’s are taught, and students get to generalize them by working at job sites in the community
and by involving parents in the program, who
assist in making sure students get opportunities
for skill practice at home to maximize generalization of the material taught.
The secondary gain of such a Web-based program is that students, many of whom are socially
isolated outside of school, get an opportunity to
participate in “community days” online where
they can hang out on a virtual street corner with
their peers and chat about music, movies, clothes,
etc. This ability to use an avatar to practice
friendship-building skills and get feedback from
peers, which is then discussed offline with teachers, offers our students a rare opportunity to hone
their skills in a protected environment. Since each
community day is archived in snapshots and can
be viewed offline, the students can go back over
social interactions with their teachers and counselors and strategize better ways to communicate

issue with learning,” says Shriver. “They’re not
participating in things, they’re not invited to
events by their classmates, and that’s because
they’re seen as different. I’d like to see kids
more involved as being part of the future
of inclusion.”
Shriver says this issue could be solved through
curriculums in public schools that directly
address diversity. “Many public schools have
done a great job with special needs, but I think
schools should have lessons about human difference and what it means to feel excluded,” says
Shriver. “In the end, parents or teachers can’t
make a child feel welcome. The only person that
can make 13-year-old feel welcome is another
13-year-old.”
In addition to his work with schools, Shriver
is still very much involved with the Special
Olympics. He’s set a goal of having 100 million
fans on the Web by the next event, and hopes to
make as many people aware of the organization
as possible. “I’d love it if no matter how old you
are or where you are in your career, you’ve been
asked or had the opportunity to participate in
the Special Olympics,” says Shriver. “I’d like to
think my children are better off for their experiences with it.”
Shriver insists that outdoing the legacy of his
father, Sargent Shriver, a former U.S. ambassador to France and the first director of the Peace
Corps, would be impossible, but he says that he
will have fun trying to come close to it and has
learned countless invaluable lessons from him.
“My father knew how to see and solve problems.
There’s no limit to what you can do and no limit
to successful empowerment.” #

or alternate methods of interaction with difficult
people. It also affords these fragile and isolated
young adults an arena in which to feel that they
can be like their peers and freely socialize without parents having to worry about them being out
alone on the actual streets.
This is just the beginning of the journey with
the 3D World Project; students are enamored with
the environment and seem to be thriving with the
opportunities offered to them. They are making
friends across different schools and boroughs, and
teachers can already see the changes it has made
in their self-esteem. The hope of the district is to
train and involve parents in this initiative to ensure
that skills learned will generalize to student homes
and communities and afford them an opportunity
for improved life outcomes. Technology should be
more than a point of entry for students with disabilities. It should offer them the same social networking opportunities and access to motivational
curricula. It is the work of visionary educators and
creative teachers to design these programs and
carry them to implementation. #
Dr. Bonnie Brown is the superintendent of
District 75 in New York City, which includes all
special-needs children throughout the city.

10

SPECIAL EDUCATION

■

EDUCATION UPDATE

Mental Health and Suicidality
on College Campuses:
Optimizing the Safety Net
By NANCE ROY, Ed.D.
“Unrecognized and untreated depression is currently the most common serious public health problem in college
students. The impact of depression is
substantial, including reduced student
retention, learning and success. The
National College Health Assessment, the
American College Health Association’s
annual student survey, reported that
the percentage of college students who
reported receiving a diagnosis of clinical depression increased from 10 percent in 2000
to 16 percent in 2005. In a population of nearly
18 million students, as many as 2.35 million college students may experience significant depression during their college years. Of the 94,806
students who participated in the 2006 National
College Health Assessment, 52.4 percent reported ‘Feeling things were hopeless’ between one
and 10 times during the past school year; 36.7
percent were ‘Feeling so depressed it was difficult to function’ between one and 10 times; and
9.3 percent found themselves ‘Seriously considering attempting suicide.’ ”
—Dr. Henry Chung and Dr. Michael Klein,
National College Depression Partnership*
These findings highlight the extent and gravity
of the issues of depression and suicidality on our
campuses. Further, research has demonstrated
that the majority of college students are much
more likely to access medical services at their
college than counseling services. As such, students who are struggling with depression and
other mental health issues often go undetected
and untreated, and as recent tragedies on college
campuses have shown, most students who commit suicide have never accessed services at their
college counseling center.
In an effort to identify those students who may
be struggling with serious depression and/or
suicidality and who don’t volitionally access the
counseling services on campus, Sarah Lawrence
College has joined with other colleges and universities across the country in the National College
Depression Partnership (N.C.D.P.), spearheaded
by Dr. Henry Chung and Dr. Michael Klein at
N.Y.U. (quoted above). The N.C.D.P. project is a
public health initiative aimed at engaging primary care providers in the identification, detection
and treatment of depression in college students,
utilizing an outcomes-driven approach to depression care that embraces clinical, developmental,
and learning outcomes. While not all students
who may be struggling with depression and/
or suicidality will find their way to the campus
counseling center, most students do utilize their
medical services, whether it be for a cold or flu,
allergies, physicals, etc. The N.C.D.P. project
involves administering a depression screening to
all students who present for services at the Health
Center, whether it is for a medical or mentalhealth appointment or walk-in services. The
provider reviews the screen with the student and,
if indicated, helps to get him or her connected
in treatment.
All students who obtain a score on the depression screen that indicates moderate depression
and difficulty in daily functioning are entered into
the N.C.D.P. registry, and their progress is tracked
over time. The screen is administered four times
over a 12-week period along with a functioning
and flourishing measure, which is administered at
the outset and conclusion of the treatment. These
measures assess the degree to which students’
academic, social and interpersonal functioning
and satisfaction changes as treatment progresses.
As a result of the project, we were successful in
screening 80 percent of all students seen at Health
Services during the past academic year, representing 60 percent of the entire student body.
More importantly, primary care was responsible for screening 20 percent of these students,

many of whom were struggling with serious depression
and suicidality and who were
having extreme difficulty in
their daily functioning.
For this subset of students
identified by primary care,
their depressive symptoms
diminished from moderately
severe depression to experiencing only minor depressive
symptoms. This same group
of students improved their flourishing and functioning levels from the low end of the moderate
range to the higher end of the moderate range.
Further, primary care was successful in identifying populations who are typically underrepresented in the counseling center, namely males and
students of color. Primary care was responsible
for identifying 24 percent of all males and 16
percent of all students of color who were struggling with depression and successfully referred
them to treatment. These were students who were
struggling with significant depression and may
have gone undetected and untreated had they not
been identified by primary care.
A second initiative aimed at preventing highrisk students from falling through the cracks has
been the development of a tracking system for
those students who receive mental health services
off campus. When a student comes to the attention of Health Services for engaging in high-risk
behaviors that may put themselves or others at
risk and who prefer to get treatment off campus,
we developed a system that “tracks” the offcampus treatment. While we prefer to see these
high-risk students on campus so that we can more
closely monitor their treatment, oftentimes they
are in need of long-term, ongoing treatment that
college counseling centers may be unable to provide. In addition, there are times when the student
may simply prefer to be seen in the community.
As such, it is often our highest-risk students who
are referred off campus for services.
In an effort to monitor these students as closely
as those seen on campus, students sign a release
of information allowing us to have communication with their clinician in the community. At the
outset, a treatment plan is agreed upon by the
student, the community provider and the college
counseling center, and a letter is sent to the community provider outlining and confirming the
treatment agreement. The provider is then asked
to fax back a clinical contact form each month to
the counseling center confirming that the student
is keeping appointments and adhering to the
treatment plan as agreed upon. Further, the community provider agrees to notify the counseling
center if any emergencies arise or if there are any
significant changes to the treatment plan, such
as an increase or decrease in the frequency of
visits or a discontinuation or addition of psychiatric medications.
During the 2008-09 academic year, 36 high-risk
students were seen by clinicians in the community and were “tracked.” Of the 36 students, only
4 ended up having to take a medical leave. Of the
remaining 32 students, all successfully completed
the year, none required a reduced course load,
and there were no psychiatric hospitalizations
and no discipline-related referrals from student
affairs. This is not to say that students are always
compliant with the treatment, which is precisely
why the tracking system is so effective. When a
student begins to miss appointments or experiences an exacerbation in symptoms, the tracking
system allows for the counseling center to be
notified, at which point we are able to have a
conversation with the student to figure out what
may be going on or what may be preventing the
student from engaging in treatment. We are then
able to get the student reconnected with their
community provider or, if appropriate, redesign

■

JUNE 2010

SUICIDE

ON

By MORTON M.
SILVERMAN, M.D.

CAMPUS

A student death, especially by
suicide, is a tragic event that often
results in a painful disruption in
the life of an educational institution. Although a statistically rare
event, a suicide brings to a halt
the daily patterns of school life
and community and calls into
question concerns about safety,
security, monitoring, protection, and prevention.
After motor-vehicle accidents and homicides,
suicide is the third leading cause of death in
young people between the ages of 15 and 24.
Data from a C.D.C. 2007 study indicated that
during the prior 12-month period, 14.5 percent
of high school students seriously considered
attempting suicide, 11.3 percent had made suicide
plans, 6.9 percent had made suicide attempts, and
2.0 percent reported making at least one suicide
attempt that required medical attention.
When the American College Health Association
surveyed college students in the fall of 2008, 63.7
percent reported having felt very sad at least once
within the preceding 12 months, 30.6 percent felt
so depressed it was difficult to function, 6.4 percent had seriously considered attempting suicide,
and 1.3 percent had attempted suicide. In addition, 5.5 percent reported intentionally cutting,
burning, bruising, or otherwise injuring themselves. With over 18 million students enrolled
in higher education programs, these numbers are
quite concerning.
Despite national attention to the problem of
adolescent and young-adult suicide, the suicide
rate in this age group hardly changed from 2000
to 2006 (10.2/100,000 vs. 9.8/100,000), representing almost 4,200 suicidal deaths in 2006.
Without a doubt, suicide and suicidal behaviors are a major public health problem in this
age group.
Fortunately, more parents, teachers and school
personnel are identifying students with mentalhealth problems and helping them obtain treatment. Because of earlier diagnoses and better
treatments that are available to high school
students (and younger), more students are now
able to complete high school and enter college. College and university student counseling
services are challenged to provide services to
at least three categories of students: those coming to campus already diagnosed with a major
mental disorder and actively seeking continuing
treatment, those who develop major mental illnesses while enrolled, and those with pre-existing
emotional disorders who decide to forgo further treatment once enrolled and subsequently
have relapses.
The Jed Foundation and the national Suicide
Prevention Resource Center have developed a
comprehensive approach to promoting mental
health and preventing student suicide. They recommend that high schools and colleges/universities:
Promote social networks that reinforce a
sense of community and relationships among
students. Schools should work to reduce student
isolation and encourage feelings of belonging. It is
not simply a matter of urging each student to “get
involved,” but of creating opportunities in an environment of caring and connection. For example,
the trend on many college campuses is to create
smaller living-and-learning environments that help
foster relationships among students and between
students and faculty members. Such relationships

can be a significant protective factor against depression and suicide.
Help students develop life
skills to face challenges. High
schools and colleges should
encourage and create programs
that improve students’ management of the rigors of student life
and equip them with the tools
and techniques to manage triggers and stressors.
Educate students about mental health and
wellness, and encourage them to seek appropriate treatment for emotional issues. It is
important to create a school environment that
will reduce the stigma surrounding mental illness and the barriers that prevent students with
suicidal thoughts and behaviors from seeking
help. Schools should teach students about the
signs and symptoms of mental illness and suicide, and provide online self-assessment tools
and information.
Identify students who may be at risk for
suicide or violent behaviors through the use of
outreach efforts, screening, and other means.
Administrators, faculty members, and students
should learn how to identify and refer a student in
distress to the people who can help that student,
and then practice those skills on a regular basis.
Increase access to effective mental-health
services that accurately diagnose and appropriately treat students with emotional problems. For high school students, the schools
should, with the help of guidance counselors
and school psychologists, serve as a resource
for mental-health services at the school and/
or in the surrounding community. For college
and university students, the counseling centers
should institute policies and procedures that
improve counseling services, work with other
organizations in the community that focus on
mental-health issues, and train counseling center
staff members and others about confidentiality,
parental notification, and other legal issues.
Create policies and procedures that promote
the safety of distressed or suicidal students
and outline how to respond to crises, including suicidal acts. That includes policies and
procedures that respond to suicide attempts and
high-risk behaviors, as well as the development
of a comprehensive disaster and follow-up plan.
Restrict access to means to potentially lethal
sites, weapons, and other agents that may
facilitate suicide attempts. Such actions might
include limiting access to roofs of buildings,
replacing widows or restricting the size of window openings, denying access to chemicals,
such as cyanide, that can be found in chemistry
laboratories, prohibiting guns on school grounds/
campus, and controlling the use of alcohol and
other drugs.
Developing a comprehensive school/campus
plan that incorporates such strategies requires collaboration from many people, who are as diverse as
bus drivers, coaches, faculty, administrators, campus ministers, dining service personnel, facilities
managers and students. Maintaining student safety
and well-being is everyone’s responsibility. #
Morton M. Silverman, M.D. is the senior
medical advisor to The Jed Foundation (New
York City) and senior advisor to the Suicide
Prevention Resource Center (Newton, Mass.).
He was the senior scientific writer for the
Surgeon General’s National Suicide Prevention
Strategy (2001).

the treatment plan to better meet the current needs
of the student.
In both the N.C.D.P. project as well as the
tracking system, follow-up seems to be the
key. It is not enough to identify those students
who are struggling with mental health issues,
including suicidality, nor is it enough to simply
offer services. It appears that active and ongoing
follow-up is critical to ensuring that students not
only get the help they need, but continue to stay
connected and engaged in treatment. By provid-

ing the scaffolding these students need, we not
only help to prevent them from falling through
the cracks, but we may become more effective
in preventing some of the tragedies occurring on
our campuses. #
Nance Roy, Ed.D., is director or health services
at Sarah Lawrence College.
*NCDP-Rationale, 2009. National College
Depression Partnership Web Site. http://www.
nyu.edu/ncdp/about/rationale.html. Updated
January 22, 2010. Accessed May 04, 2010

JUNE 2010

■

EDUCATION UPDATE

■

SPECIAL EDUCATION

mistake. “They don’t differentiate the instruction
enough between groups,” he says.
Of course, providing teachers with tools via
ongoing professional development and hiring
enough support staff is paramount to success.
In turn, principals must make walkthroughs the
norm to keep the process from stagnating with
ongoing feedback and decision-making initiatives among staff.
Looping into the stream of information, leadership must be on top of making sure assessment data continues to flow for students. Who’s

making adequate progress? What are individual
strengths and weaknesses, and when are students
ready to move forward? As such, he says, efforts
must be refocused on an ongoing basis.
And intervention usually needs to be staggered. “The further a student is behind, the more
resource-allocation it takes to get them back up
to speed.”
At Kennewick, some students receive upwards
of 210 minutes of reading instruction per day.
In the end, the school came in with a 99 percent
proficiency rating one year and have remained in
the high 90s since.
The time certainly comes at the expense of
other things, but Dr. Torgesen believes the
time allotted is worth the cost. In the F.C.R.R.
document “Teaching All Students to Read in
Elementary School: A Guide for Principals,”
Kennewick officials put it succinctly: “It matters
little what else they learn in elementary school if
they do not learn to read at grade level.”
Dr. John Russell, who as head of the Windward
School has overseen 20 years of similar success with Dr. Torgesen’s strategies, expanded
on Kennewick’s conclusions. Facing an almost
insurmountable challenge, middle- and highschool students lose access to the rest of the curriculum without adequate ability to read. In turn,
he concludes, they are much more likely to have
both academic and behavioral issues, and that gap
never goes away. #

diagnosis that has considerable stability over
time and reduced wiggle room for careless use in
general medical and educational settings); 2) the
need to educate doctors, psychologists, educators, families and patients that not all eccentricity
is mental disorder; 3) the need to educate the
public and the press that diagnostic habits and
systems change far faster than people do; and
4) getting past the ridiculous idea that this has
anything to do with vaccination.
The way to avoid definitional “epidemics”

is to be cautious in changing definitions. The
way to avoid panics about them is to be mindful that labels can be misunderstood and can
be misleading. #
Dr. Allen Frances is professor emeritus at
Duke University, where he was previously chair
of its department of psychiatry and behavioral
sciences. He was also chair of the DSM-IV Task
Force and principle investigator on the DSM-IV
Field Trials and has written a number of commentaries on DSM-5.

THE WINDWARD SCHOOL

THE IMPORTANCE
By RICH MONETTI

OF

READING

Dr. Joseph K. Torgesen of the Florida Center for
Reading Research recently presented “Teaching
all Students to Read — Is it Really Possible?”
at the Windward School in White Plains, N.Y.
Since, according to National Assessment of
Educational Progress results, 33 percent of all
American children fail to achieve basic reading
standards by third grade, it’s a crucial question.
Before an audience of about 100 educators, Dr.
Torgesen outlined an overall strategy and presented results to back up the claims.
“When you learn to read, it changes your
life and opens the world to you on numerous
avenues,” he says. On the other hand, an early
gap in reading grows proportionally over time
and puts students at a disadvantage to learn in all
other areas.
Nature-wise, he says, some students lack certain inherent abilities to master comprehension,
while the nurture aspect may diminish a child’s
vocabulary upon entering kindergarten due to
a family’s economic condition. Either way, Dr.
Torgesen suggested the main obstacle emerges
from the diverse range of ability contained within

classrooms. Most schools haven’t figured out
how to organize classrooms to meet individual
needs, he says.
Putting the primary responsibility on the principal is the place to start, according to Dr. Torgesen.
In the lead, the principal must effectively provide
the tools to identify struggling readers and help
teachers move forward with targeted intervention strategies.
One such principal, David Montague of
Kennewick Elementary School in Washington
state, was presented with the challenge of upping
his school’s 57 percent third-grade proficiency
rate to the 90 percent range. Given the skills
students had coming in, he thought the school
board was crazy, according to Dr. Torgesen.
Upping their efforts in a labor-intensive manner,
the school was able to bump up their score by
15 points.
But simple hard work was not enough to climb
any higher over the next few years. For one thing,
no matter where change is being attempted, the
identification and interventions need to begin in
kindergarten. Otherwise, once students are broken down by ability, teachers can make a crucial

Student Suicides

DSM-5

continued from page 12

continued from page 12

aspiring counselors the importance of self-care.
They also urge practicing school counselors to
develop their own supports in order to manage
their own grief and stress as a matter of ethical and professional responsibility. Moreover,
Everall notes that current counselors need to see
their own recovery and self-care as vital, not
only for themselves, but also for the students and
their entire community. #

subject to different plausible interpretations. The
stigma question cuts both ways. The services
issues will have to be dealt with whether there is
one diagnosis or two.
As I see it, there are four real issues that cut
below the controversies: 1) the importance of
reducing false positive diagnosis by refining the
criteria sets and raising the threshold requirements (at a minimum, the goal should be a

11

Dr. Joseph K. Torgesen

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New York City • JUNE 2010

• 12

How Will DSM-5 Deal With the
‘Epidemic’ of Autism?
By ALLEN FRANCES, M.D.
There has been an “epidemic” of autism in the
last 15 years. This used to be a very rare condition
diagnosed less than once in every two thousand
kids. Now it is diagnosed once in a hundred. We
will elsewhere discuss the foolish theory that this
was caused by vaccinations. Here we will trace
the real causes.
People change slowly, if at all. In contrast, fads
in psychiatric diagnosis can come and go in a fast
and furious fashion. The autism fad resulted from
changes in DSM-IV (published in 1994) interacting with a strong societal push.
There were two DSM-IV contributions: 1) the
inclusion of a surprisingly popular new diagnosis,
Asperger’s Disorder; and, much less importantly,
2) editorial revisions meant only to clarify the
criteria for Autistic Disorder, but which may
have inadvertently lowered the threshold for
its diagnosis.
The societal contributions were: 1) expanded
school and therapeutic services whose reimbursement often required an autism diagnosis;
2) increased advocacy; 3) reduced stigma, especially when many successful people admitted to
having Asperger’s; 4) extensive press coverage;
5) an explosive growth in Internet information
and social interaction; and, as a result of all
these, 6) improved surveillance and identification by doctors, teachers, families, and by the
patients themselves.
For many of the newly identified patients, getting a diagnosis has brought the advantages of:
1) improved school and therapeutic services; 2)
reduced stigma; 3) increased family understanding; 4) reduced sense of isolation; and 5) Internet
support and camaraderie.
But there are always costs. With its lowered
diagnostic thresholds and resulting increased
inclusivity, Asperger’s brought autism to the
fuzzy boundary with normal eccentricity and
social awkwardness. Some people are misidentified as having the diagnosis, when they really
don’t. This is especially true when the diagnosis
is made in less expert hands in primary care
medical facilities and in school systems.
Overdiagnosis creates the personal costs of: 1)
stigma; 2) reduced self and family expectations;
and 3) having to undergo unnecessary treatment
and educational interventions. The societal costs
of overdiagnosis are: 1) the diversion of scarce
educational and therapeutic resources away from
those who most need them; and 2) the parental
panic and confusion occasioned by the false “epidemic.”
The diagnosis of Asperger’s Disorder was
introduced by DSM-IV because its advantages
were judged to outweigh its risks. It seemed
important to have a specific category to cover
the substantial group of patients who failed to
meet the stringent criteria for autistic disorder,
but nonetheless had substantial distress or impairment from their stereotyped interests, eccentric
behaviors, and interpersonal problems.
The public panic about the seeming spread of
autism resulted from a misunderstanding of how
psychiatric diagnosis works, i.e., how arbitrary it
can be and how sensitive prevalence rates are to
changes in definition. As chair of the DSM-IV
Task Force, I am partly to blame for not having
anticipated this risk. We should have proactively
taken steps to educate the public. It would have
been useful in advance to predict the changes in
diagnostic rates and to explain their causes. We
were aware that Asperger’s would have a much

higher prevalence than classic autism, but we
greatly underestimated the magnitude of the difference and the rapidity and degree of the public’s
panicked sense that the world, rather than just the
labels, had changed. We failed in our responsibility to make clear to the public and to the press
what the labels meant and what they do not mean.
A new revision of the diagnostic manual is
now in its first draft and can be viewed at http://
www.dsm5.org. DSM-5 proposes another radical
reorganization in how autism is defined. Instead
of separating classic autism from Asperger’s,
there would be one unified “autism spectrum”
disorder with a single criteria set. The rationale is
that there is no clear boundary between the two,
and that autism is more conveniently seen as one
disorder, presenting with different levels of severity. The DSM-5 proposal also has the virtue of
attempting to raise the diagnostic requirements
for the milder presentations of autism above
those required for Asperger’s in DSM-IV. The
Work Group is appropriately worried about false
positives and the proposed criteria set would theoretically reduce the rate of misidentified autism.
There are two perhaps equally strong arguments against this possibly useful DSM-5 proposal: 1) that it will increase the stigma attached
to the milder forms of (Asperger’s) autistic
behavior if they are lumped together with the
much more severe, and 2) because clinicians
often ignore the fine points of what is required
by the criteria thresholds, the “autism spectrum”
may in practice actually expand even further to
capture ever milder forms of eccentricity, contributing to an even higher prevalence of misidentified “autism.” This is obviously the opposite of
what the Work Group intends, but it could be an
unintended consequence.
The reply to these objections could be that: 1)
autism will lose some of its stigma if the public
comes to associate it with milder cases; and 2)
the Work Group can only do what the science
says and can’t be expected to predict or prevent
misuse once their work is in the public domain.
The first point can be argued either way, but
I would strongly disagree with the second. Our
DSM-IV experience makes clear that the Work
Group must consider all the possible risks once
the changes are applied (or possibly misapplied)
in general medical and educational practice. Ideas
generated in rarefied research environments often
take on an unfortunate life of their own in the
real world.
The DSM-5 proposal is highly controversial
both within the professional community and
among the advocacy groups, which have both
strong supporters and equally strong critics and
probably about an equal weight of argument on
both sides. When it comes to labeling, the heat
of the argument is often a direct reflection that
there are no clear right answers. The major point
is to ensure that DSM-5 not provoke a further
misleading “epidemic” of autism. The criteria set
should retain and enhance items that will reduce
the risk of false positive diagnosis. Proposed
changes and alternative wordings need careful
field-testing in nonspecialist settings to determine
their likely future impact on rates. Even small
wording changes can have a profound impact on
who is, and who is not, diagnosed.
Ultimately, there will not ever be a clear correct verdict on the DSM-5 proposal to unify
autistic disorders within one rubric. The scientific
evidence is not overwhelming either way and is

continued on page 11

School Counselors Suffer in Silence
When Dealing with Student Suicides
By JAMIE HANLON
School counselors who have dealt with a
student’s suicide, and those who work with
at-risk students, need more and better supports, says Carley Christianson, director of
student support for the University of Alberta’s
faculty of education and a former school counselor. Christianson, along with co-author Robin
Everall, department chair in educational psychology, recently published a study in the British
Journal of Guidance and Counselling based on
interviews and input from school counselors
who have dealt with a student’s death by suicide.
Their research has indicated that these professionals, while helping others in the school community deal with the loss, lack the supports to
deal with their own grief and lingering feelings
of guilt over the loss of someone with whom
they had a personal connection. And, in addition to the difficulty counselors or psychologists experience in private practice, the loss
of a patient in a school setting can be particularly unsettling.
Christianson notes that the study participants
displayed a tremendous resilience by remain-

ing in the profession despite being surrounded
by constant reminders and triggers, as well as
potentially having new patients with similar
problems. However, the initial traumas often
remain in the background, leaving counselors to
deal with a host of their own problems, including post-traumatic stress or stress within interpersonal relationships.
Because of the distinctiveness of their role,
counselors need to recognize their own need for
healing. Everall notes that this could truly be
considered as a case of “physician, heal thyself,”
and one that requires them to employ one of
the most basic tenets of trauma recovery: communication.
Christianson recommends that schools ensure
that counselors have the supports and resources
in place to help students in crisis. And when
divisions are looking to cut costs and save
money, she hopes that parents will recognize the
important role school counselors have, and that
they will remain vocal in keeping those vital
services in place.
Christianson and Everall advocate teaching

continued on page 11

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JUNE 2010

■

EDUCATION UPDATE

PREPARING & PACKING FOR THE
PERFECT CAMP EXPERIENCE
The countdown to camp is fast approaching,
and the American Camp Association has the following tips to help families prepare and pack for
a fun-filled camp experience.
Plan Ahead — Remember your happy camper
will be living out of a duffel bag, trunk or suitcase
for the duration. Packing light helps campers
keep track of items and guarantees that they can
handle their own luggage at camp.
Review Camp Packing Lists — Individual
camps should provide a recommended camp
packing list, complete with any required equipment, preferred footwear, etc. Be sure to carefully
review what is needed, with special attention to
those items that may not be permitted at camp.
Before packing your camper’s favorite Nintendo
DS, be sure that the camp permits electronic
items. If you have questions, be sure to speak
with the camp director.
Label Everything — Laundry pens, iron-ons,
and press and stick labels will distinguish your

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Volume XII, No. 1 • New York City • SEPTEMBER 2006

FOR PARENTS, EDUCATORS & STUDENTS

www.EDUCATIONUPDATE.com

camper’s belongings from those of other cabinor tent-mates. Most camps ask that you label
each item, including clothing, personal items and
toiletries. Make sure that your child can identify
the label used.
Break in Shoes and Boots Before Camp
Begins — Make sure that your child’s clothing
and footwear are comfortable and appropriate.
Sending a camper in brand new hiking boots can
result in sore feet and time spent sitting out of
exciting activities.
Prepare Together — Decisions about camp,
like what to pack, should be made together. The
more ownership your camper has in these decisions, the easier the adjustment and transition to
camp will be.
For individual and special questions, contact
your camp director. Camp directors welcome the
opportunity to assist you and your camper as you
prepare for this exciting and life-changing experience. #

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CAMPS & SPORTS

FROM THE SUPERINTENDENTS’ DESK

EDUCATION OPENS DOORS
TO F RIENDSHIP
By DR. CAROLE G. HANKIN
With BRIAN SUTCH
Our education system is all about providing
opportunities — opportunities to learn, to explore
ideas both practical and abstract, to acquire new
skills, to nurture hidden talents, and to open doors
to promising careers. One of the most important
opportunities our schools provide, however, is
the opportunity for students to grow as individuals, to meet new people and to develop meaningful relationships that shape their lives well
into adulthood.
Building friendships is a very real part of
education. Think of your closest friends; how
many of them did you first meet in school? It
may have been college, high school or, in some
cases, even elementary school when you first met
these people with whom you’ve enjoyed years of
friendship. And really, it is no surprise that this is
so often the case. School can be a scary place for
a child, especially in the beginning. Fortunately,
it is a place where there are dozens of other children of similar ages and backgrounds all feeling
equally nervous and unsure of what to expect.
This is true from preschool right up through college. Sometimes we find a friend on the first day
of kindergarten. As we get older, however, we
begin to meet a more diverse group of people,
and we gravitate toward those with whom we
share a special connection. Today, thanks to
e-mail and social networking/communications
tools like Facebook and Skype, it is easier than
ever to maintain our long-term friendships or to
reconnect with old friends with whom we’ve lost
touch over the years.

It is important that we nurture our children’s
friendships and play an active role in facilitating them. Many children have trouble making
friends, but we can help them. If you feel that
your children may be having a difficult time,
encourage them to join a school club or take part
in extracurricular activities, or arrange a meeting
with a friend’s kids who may go to a different
school. This may introduce them to a whole new
group of friends they may never have found on
their own. Friends with different interests provide
a great opportunity to learn from each other.
Friendship is not an essential part of a curriculum like reading, writing and arithmetic are, but
its importance is immeasurable. Education helps
us to navigate through life, and friendship. When
we are young, we learn from our friends how to
socialize and interact. As we get older, friends help
us through difficult times and add extra enjoyment
to the good ones. Some of them are in our lives
very briefly, and some last for decades. Teach your
kids to value their friends and, most importantly,
teach them to be good friends themselves. #

Attention.
That’s what kids with ADHD want.
And that’s exactly what they’ll get at NYU Summer Program for Kids,
the only seven-week therapeutic summer program in New York,
specifically tailored to meet the needs of children between the ages
of 7 and 11 with ADHD.
·
·
·
·
·

Behavioral techniques used to promote positive behavior
Development of social and academic competence
Nurturing and fun atmosphere
Swimming and group sports daily
Highly qualified staff of psychologists, teachers, and psychology
undergraduate and graduate students
· Excellent staff/child ratio of 1 to 1-2
NYU Summer Program for Kids prepares children to start the school
year as better adjusted and more socially skilled students. Parents
also receive specialized training to make the most of their child’s
summer experience.

Alan Kadish, M.D.,
Touro President and CEO
By Lisa K. Winkler
Little did Alan Kadish know that he’d see his
future mentor at his own medical school graduation party. Kadish, barely two months into his
new job as president and chief executive officer
of Touro College and Touro University, praised
the late Rabbi Dr. Bernard Lander, founder of
Touro, and shared his aspirations for the multicampus education empire in an interview with
Education Update.
A cardiologist, Kadish comes to Touro from
Northwestern, where he served on the faculty
and as an administrator for 19 years. Though a
native New Yorker, Kadish said he hasn’t had
much time to see the city since arriving at Touro.
Serving more than 17,500 students studying at
29 locations, mostly in New York but also in
California, Florida, Nevada, Moscow, Jerusalem,
Berlin and Paris, Touro offers undergraduate
and graduate professional degree programs in a
variety of disciplines. One of its core missions
is to perpetuate Jewish tradition and continuity
throughout the world. Though Lander’s death
in February at age 94 leaves a gap in the leadership, Kadish, who said he’s finding the new job
“a huge challenge, but very rewarding,” stressed
the importance of continuing the school’s commitment to serving the underprivileged, including securing funding for more scholarships and
increasing its endowment. Kadish sees huge
opportunities in what he calls the “cross fertilization” through interdisciplinary programs, citing
a research project involving engineers and scientists to develop a new cardiac catheter and the
development of more online and video courses.
Launched in 1971 by Lander as a college for
Orthodox men in mid-Manhattan, Touro’s original mission was to provide Jewish students with
secular educations that didn’t compromise their
religious studies and obligations. Lander, a son
of Polish immigrants, soon expanded the college
to offer diverse programs to people of all backgrounds, attracting students with its relatively
low tuition and its locations in urban areas. Touro
added a women’s division in 1974, established
the School for Lifelong Education, a non-traditional contract-learning-based program, in 1989,
and the Institute for Professional Studies in 1999.
Graduate programs in law, education, pharma-

cology, allied health and osteopathic medicine
are among its most popular. Touro also operates
yeshivas and Jewish high schools. Its partnership
with New York Medical College, anticipated to
be finalized by summer, will offer an allopathic
medical degree, which, along with Touro’s osteopathic medical schools, Kadish hopes will help
alleviate the primary-care-physician shortage he
predicts will occur when current health care legislation becomes law.
For Kadish, board certified in internal medicine,
cardiovascular disease and cardiac electrophysiology, running Touro leaves no time for clinical
work, although he still engages in his research
at Northwestern once a week. “I’m immersed
in Touro; I can’t do the kind of medicine I do as
a hobby,” he said. He hopes to increase Touro’s
participation in research, noting that funding and
regulation remain the largest hurdles.
Kadish relocated to Teaneck, N.J., where he
lives with his wife and teenage child. Three older
children are in college. To unwind, he plays
bridge, mountain bikes, and reads novels by Ian
McEwan — noting his favorite is Saturday, a
story about a British neurosurgeon — and nonfiction by Simon Winchester.
In his brief tenure, Kadish said he’s been
“impressed by the talented and dedicated staff and
hopes to meet more students as time goes on.” #

Outstanding Principals Initiated as
Cahn Fellows at Teachers College

Dr. Robert ‘Buzz’ Paaswell,
The City College of New York

By Joan Baum, Ph.D.
“Any place that doesn’t
look like City College isn’t right by me,” says
Dr. Robert E. Paaswell with a smile. And he’s
been around many places — as a visiting scholar
and consultant all over the world, throughout
the country and, of course, at The City College
of New York, a campus he knows well. Twenty
years ago “Buzz” Paaswell came to City College
as a Distinguished Professor of Civil Engineering
in the Grove School of Engineering. For the last
six months, however, he has been serving as
interim president of the college, bringing to the
position extensive knowledge about public sector
management and special expertise as a renowned
authority on transportation issues, particularly as
these affect and are affected by large urban areas.
Though he began academic life as a “traditional
engineer” at SUNY Buffalo, working in geo technology, Dr. Paaswell became fascinated by transportation operations, management and planning.
By the time he left Buffalo for the University of
Illinois and then the Chicago Transit Authority,
he had made a significant mark on the field as
a researcher and innovative administrator, garnering numerous awards in recognition of work
reflecting his training and interests in interdisciplinary study. This combination — of area
specialty and broader informing knowledge — is
essential, he says, for a college graduate today.
He has a Ph.D. in civil engineering from Rutgers,
an M.S. in applied mechanics, and a B.A. in liberal arts from Columbia.

Dr. Paaswell has a sustaining passion for cities,
New York in particular, and for public education
(his children and grandchildren attended public
schools, as did he), and much of his concern
about transportation systems is related to his
desire to keep an accessible Manhattan the world
center of culture and education. Of course, he
sees City College as central in these efforts.
“Whenever someone in the city has a transportation problem, they come to us,” he says with
delight. He has confidence that despite recently
announced budget cuts, the college will continue
to be front and center in helping to solve many
science- and technology-related problems, especially in response to CUNY Chancellor Matthew
Goldstein’s declaration that the next years constitute the university’s “decade of science.”
Enrollments are up at City College, the president
notes, capital plans are underway and the college
closed out the spring term with two firsts: a daylong symposium, “Frontiers in Physics,” featuring prominent scientists (including Nobelists)
from leading U.S. and European universities,
which was held at the college in April, and,
in early May, the college’s Bernard and Anne
Spitzer School of Architecture was the site of an
unprecedented all-day conference, “Sustainable
Transit: Developing an Action Agenda,” presented by the University Transportation Research
Center in collaboration with the CUNY Institute
for Urban Systems, the M.T.A. and the Steven L.
Newman Real Estate Institute.

{L-R) Chuck Cahn, President Susan Fuhrman, and Krista Dunbar
by Sybil Maimin
Again and again, we hear from researchers and
from teachers that an effective and supportive
principal is the key to a high-performing school.
Seizing on this truth, in 2003 Chuck Cahn,
C.E.O. of Cahn Medical Technologies, and Jane
Cahn established a unique program to recognize
and further strengthen outstanding principals and
ensure the development of equally capable successors.
In a recent celebratory ceremony at Teachers
College, Columbia University, The Cahn Fellows

Program for Distinguished New York City
Principals, under expert program director Krista
Dunbar, welcomed the 2010 cohort, 23 new fellows who, while continuing to work in their own
schools, will participate in and share in a series
of leadership development activities over the
course of a year. The new fellows become part
of a growing tradition begun in 2003 that now
includes 151 Cahn alumni and reaches and affects
200,000 school children in all five boroughs.
Krista Dunbar, director of the program, explained

continued on page 22

continued on page 22

To find out more about the program
or nominate a New York City public
school principal with three or
more years of experience, visit
www.cahnfellows.org/nominate.php
or contact
us at cahnfellows@tc.edu.

JUNE 2010

■

FOR PARENTS, EDUCATORS & STUDENTS

■

EDUCATION UPDATE

15

East Meets West: Hong Kong Executes Bold Education Reform
By EMILY SHERWOOD, Ph.D.
Stating that “we have become a culture of
reform,” Hong Kong’s Permanent Secretary
for Education, Mr. Raymond Wong, discussed
Hong Kong’s bold New Academic Structure,
which has been widely touted as the beginning
of a new era of education for this cosmopolitan
city, a global financial center that is known for
its blend of Chinese and Western cultures. The
system is more aligned with major systems
of the world, including the American model
of academic instruction. Students will pursue
three years of junior high school (junior secondary), three years of high school (senior
secondary) and four years of university study.
This will facilitate smoother articulation to
further studies abroad and easier international

student exchange. Secondary-school students
will be required to learn four core subjects
— Chinese, mathematics, English, and liberal
studies — while choosing two to three electives
that include sciences, history, geography, and
foreign languages.
Infused throughout the secondary-school curriculum is a greater focus on critical thinking and problem-solving skills as opposed to
rote learning drills. “We have changed the
way students learn,” explained Mr. Wong when
Education Update interviewed him and his
Education Bureau colleagues in the graciously appointed Hong Kong Economic & Trade
Office situated in a high-ceilinged brownstone
in Midtown Manhattan. “We need to meet the
challenge of the 21st century. We live in a more

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globalized world. Knowledge changes fast. We
want to produce students with a more broadbased knowledge of the world around them.” He
added that the workforce must be significantly
strengthened because “employers want graduates to have better problem-solving, communication, and critical-thinking skills.”
Following senior secondary school, students
will sit for one single public examination
(scaled back from two, requiring “less time
on test preparation”) in order to obtain their
Hong Kong Diploma of Secondary Education, a
prerequisite for university acceptance. But they
will also have a qualitative student assessment
that will encompass the breadth of their achievement, including such factors as art appreciation,
community service or work-related experiences.

continued on page 16

Mr. Raymond Wong, Secretary for
Education, Hong Kong

16

MUSIC, ART & DANCE

■

EDUCATION UPDATE

■

JUNE 2010

Dr. Richard Kogan:
A Harmony of Music and Marriage:
The Influence of Music & Medicine
Abigail Lumsden & Les Horan
By JOAN BAUM, Ph.D.
Although William Congreve’s 1697 line,
“Music has charms to soothe a savage breast,”
is often rendered as “to soothe a savage beast,”
either version would probably be O.K. with Dr.
Richard Kogan, since this Harvard-educated psychiatrist is also a first-class pianist. Indeed, it is
the interaction of music and medicine that especially intrigues Dr. Kogan these days. He believes
that doctors who love music and musicians who
appreciate the psychological conditions that often
inform musical composition would enrich their
own lives as well as the lives of their respective
constituencies, if doctors and musicians knew
more about each other’s world.
But which is Dr. Kogan really: doctor or pianist?
He laughs, the question is directed at him a lot.
Once, when he was in medical school, someone
came up to him and asked when he had decided to
quit music! There’s no doubt in Dr. Kogan’s mind:
music and medicine enhance one another. Doctors
who play an instrument or listen to music regularly are likely to demonstrate a greater humanity
toward their patients — an important widening of
concern at a time when medical schools continue
to concentrate on specialist training. But even for
musicians Dr. Kogan would advocate broad exposure to their own discipline. He himself, he notes
modestly, studied both cello and piano, an experience that made him sensitive to how a percussive
instrument, in trying to simulate the vibrato of a
stringed instrument, for example, might result in
a more nuanced, more intimate, performance. To
demonstrate, and perhaps, also, to allay any suspicion that he would ever quit either music or medicine, the good doctor moves to a piano (Education
Update is interviewing Dr. Kogan at Juilliard) and
starts to play … Chopin’s “Fantasie-Impromptu.”
A minute later he is discussing Oliver Sachs and
the neurological bases of music’s power to reach
cognitively impaired individuals and have healing influence.
Dr. Kogan is a man with a multi-purposed,
multi-dimensional mission: He would promote a
closer connection between music and medicine
at pre-professional and professional levels. He
would advocate a broad-based liberal arts education for both medical and music majors. He
would persuade youngsters who play a musical
instrument but whose talent has been assessed as
less than promising to stick with it (alas, he points
out, recent studies show that two-thirds of kids
introduced to a musical instrument no longer play
after two years). He would urge that all music,
not just classical, be included curricula, as has
been the case at Juilliard under the presidential
leadership of Joseph Polisi. Dr. Kogan chuckles,
recalling Duke Ellington’s famous remark that
there is good music and bad music and “I like them
both.” Dr. Kogan attended the pre-college program
at Juilliard from the age of 6 to 18, but opted to
go to Harvard instead of to a conservatory. Yes,
medicine is highly specialized and everyone’s
on information overload, but that’s no reason to
abandon the historical “vision” of linking up with
other disciplines. Prospective doctors need to be
reminded that they will soon be dealing not in
statistics or procedures, but people. The divisions
between the sciences and humanities is artificial, a

Hong Kong
continued from page 15
“We want the future generation to have more
broad-based knowledge, to know about their
community and things happening around them,”
Mr. Wong added. The composite student learning profile will play an important role in their
application for university entrance: “It’s more
balanced,” summed up Mr. Wong.
As Hong Kong gears up for these sweeping
educational changes, the role of the university,
or tertiary institution, will have a significant role
to play in student development. Currently there
are nine publicly funded tertiary institutions and

By JOAN BAUM, Ph.D.

construct of the 20th century.
Despite a busy schedule of private psychiatric practice and serving as co-director of the
Weill Cornell Medical College Human Sexuality
Program, Dr. Kogan recently took on the co-chairmanship of the Weill Cornell Music/Medicine
Initiative, where he hopes to put his mission
points into practice. An award-winning pianist, Dr.
Kogan also manages, somehow, to give approximately 30 to 40 concerts a year, to rave reviews,
including recent praise from Yo-Yo Ma. He has
also begun a DVD series, “Richard Kogan: Music
and the Mind” (the first, on Robert Schumann,
is already out), and he continues to be a regular
on the talk show and conference lecture circuits
(Bernstein as teacher is a hero model). Studying
Schumann, says Dr. Kogan, has given him, as a
psychiatrist and a musician, a “better insight” into
why Schumann “had to compose, had to create.”
But how can his goals be taken up by schools
already faced with and facing more cutbacks
in the arts? Dr. Kogan doesn’t miss a beat: the
psychological value of music in schools is that
it helps establish a sense of community. How
unfortunate that so many young people today
listen to music only with headphones, isolated
within themselves.
Every school can have at least a chorus. Every
medical school could have a chamber group.
And there is no doubt, as researchers know, that
early acquaintance with playing an instrument
improves cognitive ability all around. It is also
true, as neurologists well know, that older folk
have a better chance of warding off diseases like
Alzheimer’s and dementia if they are involved
with music — not to mention the example of
Beethoven, whose greatest works were composed
when he was totally deaf — a prime illustration
of “resilience.” Music is medicine. #

Performers and music teachers Les Horan and
Abigail Lumsden not only finish each other’s
sentences, they knowingly and lovingly take each
other’s “measure” and riff on intuitions. That’s
“measure” as in musical measure, a bar of music
that one of them starts — on the piano, violin,
viola or drum, or just sings — and the other moves
into, improvising, playing with the beat, changing
the mode, maybe going from classical, to jazz, to
blues, to Latin, to rock, to gospel, to Broadway
pop, even a bit of hip hop. They’re Upper West
Side New Yorkers — urban, informal, communityminded and passionate about music and about
culture in all its diversity.
Their home is their studio, a comfortable, highceilinged warren of rooms on West End Avenue
equipped with a grand piano, keyboard, percussion, upright, recording equipment and knickknacks everywhere that speak of their separate
lives, now conjoined, never to be put asunder. And
to think it all began in a laundry room of the spacious apartment building they share as man and
wife and musicians. We started to talk, I asked if
I could try his piano, says Abby. And two hours
later, Les adds, we knew this would be It. A marriage of true minds, as Shakespeare might say, that
admits not impediments, but innovation. Indeed,
one of the marvels of the Horan-Lumsden relationship is how each cherishes individual style while
yielding to, and learning from, the other. This
unusual partnership is, they think, what makes
them effective educators. What they allow each
other, they invite from their students.
Both trained in conservatories but early on pursued different career paths. Les, with advanced
degrees in music, psychology and education, has
been teaching, composing, playing, arranging and
writing about music in the metropolitan area for
over three decades. (He is also working on a memoir, tentatively titled I’m Not Jewish! Yes You Are
about his surprise as a youngster, brought to this
country by his family fleeing Nazi Czechoslovakia,
to discover his origin.) Describing himself as
musically looser than Abby (“she’s more serious”
he laughs), he credits her with sharpening his technique. She works more on the “technical stuff,”
he says, while she argues for his wider arsenal of
songs and ease at improv. At times they refer one
of their own students to the other for a lesson — to
Abby for a session on fingering exercises, perhaps,

or to Les for self-expression in blues.
Though a U.S. citizen, Abby studied and lived
for a while in Holland, concentrating increasingly
on conducting and voice coaching. Back in the
states a few years ago, she cut down slightly on
the number of choruses she was conducting and
arranging pieces for because of an increasing
dedication to Heart’s Journeys, now into its 11th
year, an ever-expanding, ever-shifting multimedia
“show with a story line” that usually includes
dance and visuals. Staged at various venues around
the city, including Symphony Space, she speaks
of “Heart’s Journeys” as “therapeutic.” She was
thrilled when an audience member at a health
facility once came up to her saying, “You’ve
warmed my soul.”
Nowhere is their goal of community and communion more apparent than in the responses they
get from students challenged with physical or
mental difficulties, such as the autistic boy, now
14, with whom both Les and Abby have been
working “moment to moment, exactly at his
pace — showing him the songs he loves best.”
After five years, they report, he’s finally learned
to practice on his own and “as is very proud of
it.” Abby also has two autistic men in her Peace of
Heart choir, ages 20 and 24, who love the “warm
social atmosphere” of the group, and their deepening connection with it has made their respective
parents “ecstatic.”
Their mantra is “At Your Own Pace — In Your
Own Way,” and they subscribe to it for all their
students who range in age from 3-and-a-half to 80.
Students come to them largely by word of mouth
and from viewing their videos on YouTube. There,
at least a dozen musical performances can be seen,
including Abby doing what she calls her “vocalantics.” One joyous video features Les bopping with
a Japanese classical pianist, another shows Abby
with bongos.
What do they think they do that makes the difference as music teachers? As Les says, they create
lessons around individuals, but also go with the
musical flow. On request, they thread their way
into the main piano room to demonstrate, he at the
88s, she taking out a violin. They do a bit of Bach
and then “Happy Birthday.” “Let’s do it in E-flat,”
Abby suggests, “with a little bit of D and F,” and
they do, their enthusiasm instinctively prompting
a visitor from Education Update to join in, harmonizing. #

two private universities, with close to 70 percent
of students studying toward a two- or four-year
college degree. “If we want to expand tertiary
education, the private sector will have a greater
role to play in the future,” Mr. Wong explained,
noting that the Education Bureau will incentivize
growth by making land available at a nominal
value, by providing startup institutional loans,
and by providing loans and grants to the students
attending these colleges. Hong Kong is also hoping to attract more international students to study
at its universities, having already doubled the
quota of non-local students at public universities from 10 to 20 percent since 2008. “Having
a more internationalized composition in our uni-

versities helps our own students,” pointed out Mr.
Wong. “It makes us a more multicultural community.” Because instruction within Hong Kong
universities is conducted in English and the faculty is already fully internationalized, Mr. Wong
believes that Hong Kong is poised to become a
more attractive option for international students.
Shrewdly realizing that good teaching is the
bedrock of an excellent educational system,
Hong Kong is providing scholarships for English
majors to enter the profession of teaching.
“English is important to us. We want to attract
more teachers with strong English skills,” said
Mr. Wong. Student teachers teaching English
are required to spend one semester overseas in

language immersion programs, and there will be
a renewed focus on recruiting the strongest students as student teachers (already, teachers come
from the top 20 percent of the student body).
Where Hong Kong’s sweeping educational
reforms will take its motivated student body is
still unknown, but one thing is for certain: literacy scores have skyrocketed since the program
was conceptualized just a decade ago, and there is
a strong financial commitment on the part of the
Hong Kong government. “My education budget
accounts for one-quarter of the entire budget,”
noted Mr. Wong. “We want to be a regional education hub, and we attach enormous importance
to human resources,” he added with conviction. #

JUNE 2010

■

EDUCATION UPDATE

■

17

SPOTLIGHT ON SCHOOLS

By MARISA SUESCUN
The first thing that struck me about
Superintendent Walt Rulffes was his genial,
unhurried manner. I met him in his office for an
interview wedged between a press conference
and Board meeting. Dressed in a shirt and tie
underneath a crewneck sweater, Rulffes greeted
me with a warm smile and long handshake;
in answering questions, his pace was equally
deliberate. For a man in charge of the fifthlargest school district in the country, on the
precipice of major state budget negotiations that
would determine if and how many teachers he
would need to lay off, Rulffes seemed remarkably calm.
“I’m not high strung,” he said matter-offactly. “Some superintendents are.” Not that
Rulffes takes his responsibilities lightly; rather,
he feels this quality of composure is necessary
to help him grapple with the very weighty issues
he faces daily.
As head of Clark County School District,
Rulffes is responsible for educating some
310,000 students in Las Vegas and its suburbs. Rulffes is a self-described “non-traditional
superintendent”; though he earned his doctorate
in education, he has a business background and
never taught in a public school.
Rulffes applies a business-oriented approach
to reforming schools: “You have to measure results. If you don’t, you’re not going
to improve.” The bottom-line measure of his
district, in Rulffes’ view, reveals a big problem.
“We’re at about a 65 percent graduation rate,
which is shameful.” The national measure for
C.C.S.D.’s graduation rate is lower still, 47 percent.
Still, the graduation rate has increased 5 percent in the four years since Rulffes took over,
and his initiatives and fiscal management have
garnered national attention; at the time of the
interview, Rulffes was one of five finalists for
National Superintendent of the Year. (The award
ultimately went to Maryland Superintendent
Elizabeth Molina Morgan.) But Rulffes isn’t
quick to sing his own praises; he’s more interested in the sound, methodical pursuit of making better schools.
Education Update: Who are your mentors?
Walt Rulffes: My strongest mentor was a
food service director who mentored me when I
was in college. I saw signs of leadership in how
she motivated people. I saw how leadership is
mostly good common sense and judgment and
fairness. I think those are traits that I saw that I
was able to apply to the superintendency.
EU: What makes you a successful superintendent?
WR: I don’t get discouraged. Half of the job
of being superintendent is the courage to want to
do it. Someone mentioned to me the other day,
“It must be tough to be you.” And I thought,
“Why?!” I guess they thought with the magnitude of issues that face virtually every student,
the job of a superintendent is insatiable. So you
have to sort out your priorities.
EU: What are your priorities?
WR: To increase the number and quality of
high school graduates. That’s been my mantra.
We have increased — not nearly as much as we
want. And I offer no excuses. I think we’re letting too many kids get away.
EU: What big initiatives has C.C.S.D.
implemented under your leadership?
WR: We’ve been opening new schools with
concepts of reform. Instead of large comprehensive high schools, we break them into career
academies on different campuses. These are
“choice schools,” and you have to meet criteria to get in. Students get a comprehensive
college preparatory education, and also pick a
career track. These schools have our highest
graduation rates, lowest discipline rates, best
attendance. And a waiting list of thousands. So
I thought, why not offer that to more students?
EU: How many new schools have you

opened?
WR: We’ve opened 7,000 seats in new
schools. The proof is in the pudding. Talk to any
student [in these schools]: they’re there because
they want to be, and they’re engaged. It’s a
simple concept: we give students a choice of
where they want to be, and they make the gains.
EU: How does C.C.S.D. measure how well
its schools are doing?
WR: We developed a report to provide a
holistic measure of how we’re doing. We call
it the “Quality Assurance Framework.” I wish
we’d just called it the School Performance
Report. [Laughs]. It has a quantitative measure
to be met by each school — including graduation rate, student performance, and improvement.
EU: Are there consequences for the schools
attached to the measurements?
WR: There will be. Also, our “empowerment schools” are given more authority and
independence, but have a higher expectation for
accountability, because we think they best know
how to serve the population in their area. We
started with four and they were very successful. We’ve expanded to 17, and we’re adding
11 more.
EU: What are the accountability measures
for empowerment schools?
WR: We’re one of the few districts that gives
schools performance pay if they meet the criteria on the Quality Assurance Framework. It’s
not just academics and grades; it includes parent
satisfaction, attendance, and other factors that
influence performance.
EU: Some of C.C.S.D.’s initiatives –
empowerment, smaller schools, performance
pay – sound similar to initiatives in the
N.Y.C. D.O.E.
WR: They’re similar. We looked at New
York, Boston, Houston, San Francisco, Seattle,
and Edmonton, Canada. We developed a
hybrid model.
EU: With the budget crises, what’s the biggest challenge you’ve faced?
WR: Sustainability of student programs, with
declining resources. It’s difficult to ratchet down
because you always impact something important to somebody. We’ve gone from relentless
growth of students to flat this year. It points to
the probability of layoffs. (Since the interview,
Rulffes announced he anticipates laying off
hundreds of teachers and administrators to close
a $125 million budget deficit.)
EU: What other challenges are particular
to C.C.S.D.?
WR: We need more ELL support: we have
80,000 students with language deficiency issues.
We have poverty: we went from 37 percent a
couple years ago to 46 percent now of students
getting free or reduced lunch. Our class sizes
are too big. We also have a very high migration
pattern (students transferring from one school
to another within the district). We have schools
where a classroom may turn over 100 percent.
EU: When was a time you felt “unsuccessful” in your job?
WR: The darkest day of my professional life
was when we did a test throughout the district
of all algebra students two years ago. It wasn’t
good. 95 percent of the students got a D or F.
EU: How did you respond?
WR: We’ve put great emphasis on improving students’ math skills, elementary through
high school. We’ve been shifting to a common
curriculum across the district, particularly in
math. As the U.S. Department of Education
moves towards common standards, that’s coming anyway. And frankly, with students moving
from school to school, I think we need more
consistency with our curriculum.
EU: How has that fared?
WR: The quality of our staff has been reflected in their ability to rebound. We haven’t made
gains nearly to where we want them to be, but
the momentum has shifted.

Clark County School District

IN LAS VEGAS, SUPERINTENDANT WALT RULFFES
MAKES A DIFFERENCE ONE DAY AT A T IME

Dr. Walt Rulffes keeps a level head in managing the country’s fifth largest school district

WR: Meeting Standards, Minus? No –
Approaching Standards, Plus. [Laughs.]
Because it shows we are moving up. I guess
being nominated as one of the Superintendents
of the Year is something, but it doesn’t fit into
the four categories. #

Dyslexia and Creativity:
Two Sides of the Same Coin
Drs. Bennett and Sally Shaywitz

PART II: 5:30PM

A Conversation with
Orlando Bloom
and Dr. Harold S. Koplewicz
Rockefeller University • Caspary Auditorium
1230 York Avenue • New York City
Admission is free. Reservations are required.
www.cscfound.org/KatzLecture
CO-SPONSORS

This event is made possible by the generosity of Ellen and Howard Katz

18

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WWW.EDUCATIONUPDATE. COM

For the past eight years, EDUCATION UPDATE and Dr. Pola Rosen have been recognizing the contributions of outstanding teachers and administrators in the public schools of
New York City. EDUCATION UPDATE also awards medals to Distinguished Leaders in Education who have been seminal influences in improving the lives of children
as well as establishing a paradigm for others around the nation. The awards breakfast is held at the Harvard Club each year.
This year we are proud to recognize Chancellor Joel Klein, Chancellor Michelle Rhee and Ann Tisch. Medals will be presented by Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

MICHELLE RHEE

JOEL I. K LEIN

C HANCELLOR, DISTRICT OF
COLUMBIA P UBLIC S CHOOLS

C HANCELLOR, NEW YORK CITY
DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

n June 12, 2007, Mayor Adrian Fenty
appointed Chancellor Michelle Rhee
to lead the District of Columbia
Public Schools, a school district serving more than 47,000 students in 123 schools.
Chancellor Rhee’s commitment to excellence
in education began in a Baltimore classroom in
1992 as a Teach For America teacher. At Harlem
Park Community School, she learned the lesson
that informs her work every day: a city’s teachers are the most powerful driving force behind
student achievement in a school.
Chancellor Rhee founded The New Teacher
Project (T.N.T.P.) in 1997, a leading organization in understanding and developing innovative solutions to the challenges of new teacher
hiring. As chief executive officer and president,
Ms. Rhee partnered with school districts, state
education agencies, nonprofit organizations and
unions to transform the way schools and other
organizations recruit, select and train highly
qualified teachers in difficult-to-staff schools.
Her work with T.N.T.P. implemented widespread reform in teacher hiring practices,
improving teacher hiring in Atlanta, Baltimore,

Chicago, Miami, New York, Oakland and
Philadelphia. T.N.T.P. placed 23,000 new,
high-quality teachers in these schools across
the country.
Chancellor Rhee holds a bachelor’s degree in
government from Cornell University and a master’s degree in public policy from the Kennedy
School of Government at Harvard University. #

ANN T ISCH
FOUNDER, YOUNG WOMEN’S
L EADERSHIP NETWORK
nn is the founder and president of the
Young Women’s Leadership Network,
which started with the groundbreaking
network of five all-girls’ public schools
in New York City and Philadelphia, The Young
Women’s Leadership Schools. The flagship school
in East Harlem has a nine-year track record of 100
percent graduation and college acceptance rates
and is the model for single-sex public education
around the world. Shortly after she opened the
flagship East Harlem School, Ann created a college
guidance program called CollegeBound Initiative,
which places specially trained, full-time college
counselors in coed and single-sex public schools
and boasts amazing results — 94 percent college
acceptance rates.
Prior to founding the Young Women’s Leadership
Network, Ann had a 19-year career in broadcast
journalism, first at WIBW-TV in Topeka, Kansas,
and then to WCOO-TV in Minneapolis, later joining NBC Network News as a national correspondent. At NBC, Ann worked on several magazine
shows, covering political, medical and human-interest stories. She also served as a substitute anchor
on the “Today Show” and “NBC at Sunrise.” As
a national correspondent, Ann developed a strong
interest in educational issues. After covering dozens
of education stories for the network, as well as reading and studying data on single sex-education, she
conceived the idea of an all-girls’ public school. In
1996, with the help of the Center for Educational
Innovation and the unanimous approval of the New

York City Board of Education, Ann turned her idea
into a reality and opened The Young Women’s
Leadership School of East Harlem.
Ann was educated at Washington University in
St. Louis, where she graduated summa cum laude
with a degree in psychology and sociology. She currently serves as a Trustee of Washington University.
She also serves on the Dean’s Council of The New
York University Tisch School for the Arts and is a
Trustee of the Center for Educational Innovation.
Ann also consults with many school districts and
parent groups across the country about creating
schools similar to The Young Women’s Leadership
Schools. Ann is married to Andrew Tisch, and they
have two daughters. #

oel I. Klein is the chancellor of
the New York City Department of
Education. As chancellor, Mr. Klein
oversees a system of 1,631 schools
with 1.1 million students, 136,000 employees,
and a $21 billion operating budget. He launched
Children First in 2002, a comprehensive reform
strategy that has brought coherence and capacity
to the system and resulted in significant increases
in student performance. In the next phase of
Children First, Mr. Klein will build on this
progress by cultivating teacher talent, expanding
school choices so that students attend schools that
best meet their individual needs, and innovating
to ensure students are prepared for rigorous, realworld opportunities in the 21st century. Formerly
chairman and C.E.O. of Bertelsmann, Inc, a
media company, Mr. Klein served as Assistant
U.S. Attorney General in charge of the Antitrust
Division of the U.S. Department of Justice until
September 2000 and was Deputy White House
Counsel to President Clinton from 1993 to 1995.
Mr. Klein entered the Clinton administration
after 20 years of public and private legal work

in Washington, D.C. He attended New York
City’s public schools and graduated from William
Cullen Bryant High School. He received his B.A.
from Columbia University, where he graduated
magna cum laude/Phi Beta Kappa in 1967, and
earned his J.D. from Harvard Law School in
1971, again graduating magna cum laude. #

PRESENTED BY

MICHAEL R. BLOOMBERG
MAYOR, NEW YORK CITY
ichael R. Bloomberg is the 108th
mayor of the City of New York. Elected
to office in 2001, in his first term,
Mayor Bloomberg cut crime 20 percent; created jobs by supporting small businesses;
unleashed a building boom of affordable housing; expanded parks and worked to revitalize the
waterfront; implemented ambitious public health
strategies, including the successful ban on smoking in restaurants and bars; expanded support for
community arts organizations; and improved the
efficiency of government. In addition, fulfilling a
campaign promise, he won control of New York’s
schools from the broken Board of Education, and
began turning around the nation’s largest school
district by injecting standards into the classroom
and holding schools accountable for success. As a
result, graduation rates have increased more than
20 percent, and reading and math scores have both
risen to record levels.
In 2005, Mayor Bloomberg was re-elected by a
diverse coalition of support that stretched across
the political spectrum. In the first half of his second term, while balancing the budget and driving
unemployment to a record low, Mayor Bloomberg
took on a number of new challenges. He launched
an innovative program to combat poverty that
encourages work and makes work pay. He began
a far-reaching campaign to fight global warming
and give New York City the cleanest air of any
major U.S. city. And he co-founded a bipartisan
coalition 15 mayors — which has grown to more
than 350 mayors — to keep illegal guns out of the

hands of criminals and off city streets.
When the current financial crisis hit and the
national economy entered a serious recession,
the Mayor launched a Five Borough Economic
Opportunity Plan to bring the City through the
downturn as quickly as possible. The Plan is
focused on creating jobs for New Yorkers today,
implementing a vision for growing the City’s economy over the long-term, and building affordable,
attractive neighborhoods across all five boroughs.
Michael Bloomberg began a small startup
company called Bloomberg LP in 1981. Today,
Bloomberg LP has over 275,000 subscribers
to its financial news and information service.
Headquartered in New York City, the company
has more than 10,000 employees in 150 cities. #

EDUCATION UPDATE W ISHES TO EXPRESS O UR GRATITUDE TO T HE S PONSORS W HO HAVE MADE T HE O UTSTANDING EDUCATORS OF T HE YEAR 2010 POSSIBLE:

June 3, 2010
THE HARVARD CLUB

DIAMOND: LANDS' END
PLATINUM: GRACE FOUNDATION, CON EDISON, MCGRAW-HILL, LANDMARK COLLEGE
GOLD: THE CITY UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK
SILVER: COUNCIL OF SUPERVISORS AND ADMINISTRATORS
CORPORATE: Bartash Printing, The Everett Foundation, The Jed Foundation, Kennedy Child Study Center, Margaret Cuomo Maier, M.D. and Howard Maier, Met Schools,

The McGraw-Hill Companies
is committed to creating a smarter,
better world, through our partnerships
We congratulate and salute the

Outstanding Educators of the Year
Joel I. Klein
Chancellor
NYC Department of Education

Michelle Rhee
Chancellor
Washington, DC Schools

Ann Tisch
Founder & President
The Young Women’s Leadership Network

JUNE 2010

JUNE 2010

■

FOR PARENTS, EDUCATORS & STUDENTS

■

EDUCATION UPDATE

21

MUSEUMS AS EDUCATORS

PRESIDENT ELLEN FUTTER:
AT THE HELM OF THE AMERICAN
MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY
By JOAN BAUM, Ph.D.
She’s smart, articulate, impassioned, focused,
forceful and utterly dedicated to the mission
of the American Museum of Natural History
(A.M.N.H.), of which she has been president
for the last 17 years. Before that, Ellen V. Futter
made her mark at the age of 32 when she became
the president of Barnard College, where she
served for 13 years. Her various positions, affiliations and honors constitute a stunning record
of accomplishment. A Phi Beta Kappa, magna
cum laude graduate of Barnard College and a
graduate of Columbia Law School, she served as
chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank of New
York and as a board member of the Legal Aid
Society and the American Association of Higher
Education. She is also a fellow of the American
Academy of Arts and Sciences and of the Council
on Foreign Relations.
Administering a world-famous municipal science center, founded as a museum but also chartered as an educational institution, is not the same
as being president of a major American college.
Barnard students, Futter points out, are “a known
set,” among the best and the brightest in the
nation, and they tend to stay put for four years.
By contrast, those who come to A.M.N.H. —
approximately four million visitors a year — are
“an unknown quantity,” and, it may be assumed,
a much more diverse group: different ages, levels
of education, interests and cultural backgrounds,
whose frequency of visiting varies widely.
Still, both A.M.N.H. and Barnard are aca-

Bring

Nature
to the Classroom
with Teacher
Education Courses

demically oriented nonprofit institutions, Futter
adds, dedicated to public service in the form of
education. In regard to the museum, the need
to educate the public about science and inspire
a new generation of researchers has never been
greater. The country “is in a crisis in science
education” and must do more to remain competitive. She is delighted to elaborate on how the
museum is meeting the challenge by focusing
on major issues — genomics, brain research, the
environment, among them — without “dumbing
down.” She is joined in this discussion by Anne
Canty, the vice president for communications and
marketing, and Lisa Gugenheim, the senior vice
president for education, strategic planning and
institutional advancement.
It is the goal of the museum not just to provide
scientific truths honestly but to do so in ways that
will prove “inspirational.” Visits to A.M.N.H.

continued on page 23

Great Schools Begin
with Great Leaders.
Congratulations to today’s awardees
for serving our children so well.

Spend an exciting and educational
week at The New York Botanical
Garden this spring and summer. Learn
how to creatively use the outdoors as
an extension of the classroom while
enriching your curriculum with lesson
plans, activities, and reproducible
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Three
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For more information o
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Judith Hutton at
718.81
718.817.8140.

By JUDITH AQUINO
Greater efforts are needed to offer free breakfasts in classrooms, confirmed guest speakers at the School Food Matters panel discussion recently hosted by the Center for
New York City Affairs at The New School in
Manhattan. Kevin Concannon, undersecretary
for food, nutrition and consumer services in
the United States Department of Agriculture,
and Eric Goldstein, chief executive officer for
the New York City Department of Education’s
Office of Nutrition and Transportation, were
among the panelists. Also present were Jan
Poppendieck, a professor of sociology at Hunter
College, Jonathan Stein, general counsel for
Community Legal Services of Philadelphia,
and Jim Weill, president of the Food Research
and Action Center.
Moderated by Fred Mogul, a healthcare and
medicine reporter for radio station WNYC, the
panelists addressed the issue of obesity among
elementary school children, the reauthorization
of the Child Nutrition Act, and ways to provide
free or subsidized meals to more students. “It
is phenomenally successful,” said Goldstein in
regards to classroom breakfasts. “You see more
alert students and fewer trips to the nurse. We
think the benefits are enormous, but we have
to figure out how to do this best and meet the
needs of our principals and our schools.”
Breakfast in the Classroom was introduced
as a pilot program to New York City schools
in January 2008. The free breakfast consists of
juice, milk, cereal, fruit and an additional bread

or dairy item. Every student is eligible for the
breakfast, and currently 22 percent of the over
1,600 public schools in New York City participate in the program.
Despite the benefits of providing classroom
breakfasts, schools face numerous challenges
in implementing them, Goldstein noted. “You
have real-life issues. In a city with 1,600
schools, facilities are different, and you need
the unions’ support.” There is also the stigma
of receiving free or subsidized meals, which the
panelists acknowledged as a major reason many
students do not participate in the program.
Convincing legislators to mandate school
breakfasts would overcome some of these problems, said Poppendieck. “One of the advantages to mandating school breakfasts nationwide
is it would take it out of certain culture wars …
that have had the effect of stigmatizing families
for participating in the program,” she said.
“We can’t turn everything into a mandate
because the cost implications are huge,”
responded Concannon, who noted that the $1
billion allotted to schools through the expected
reauthorization of the Child Nutrition Act
would help pay for higher-quality foods and
other improvements. Through bonuses and
other incentives, the USDA hopes to convince states to do a better job upgrading their
schools’ kitchens, training food preparers and
providing nutritional school meals, he added.
For more information about the Breakfast in
the Classroom campaign, visit the D.O.E.’s Web
site at http://www.opt-osfns.org/osfns. #

COUNTY CUTS CHILD CARE AID
TO WORKING F AMILIES

By RICH MONETTI
In operation since 1971, Mt. Kisco Child
Care Center provides families a safe, secure and
progressive learning environment. Additionally,
reflecting the socioeconomic makeup of their
Northern Westchester locale also encompasses
its mission. With a large Latino immigrant population and affluence ranging from low to high,
remaining viable requires innovative means of
generating revenue, effective fundraising, and
access to public funds. Unfortunately, with budget cuts now coming from the county, Mt.
Kisco and other facilities in the area now face
uncertainty in delivering child care for our communities.
As of April 1st, the Westchester County Child
Care Scholarship Program was halted, and new

Title XX subsidies were frozen. In addition, child
care fees for families receiving subsidies were
raised from 10 percent of gross income to 20.
So, to start, a $20,000 a year salary will raise a
family’s monthly fee from $166 to $333. “Some
parents can’t even afford another $25, never mind
doubling it,” says Dawn Meyerski, the center’s
director of education. That puts the center in the
position of making up the difference.
Unfortunately, this doesn’t only leave the center in the lurch in terms of low-income families.
Putting aside the 80 families (out of 160) who
are full-fee payers and the 35 that qualify for
aid, 45 families in the $45,000 to $100,000 range
receive assistance through the center’s private
scholarship efforts. Nonetheless, the center plans
to uphold its long-standing commitment to the

graduates should be basically literate in science
and technology, and college should prepare students “not for their first job, but with the tools
for navigating through a career.” This enhanced
mission means “rethinking the curriculum” and
hiring “modern scholars” who understand the
importance of addressing the physical and social
sciences together. Although transportation as a
professional field draws essentially on science
and technology, it should also attract students
in business, economics, pre-law, architecture,
and, yes, the humanities, the source of future
communication and marketing professionals and
language experts. Majors in all these disciplines
should also be interacting in the design of “new
technology” for transit systems — for instance,

Cahn Fellows

“our cell phones are our computers” — to ensure
that “real-time operating information” for subways, buses and light rail will be not only efficient but easy to use.
Though research grants to the college have
increased, strengthening giving initiatives, the
president does note that budget cuts may necessitate tuition increases, perhaps with differentials
for different professional schools and departments. He expects, however, no diminution in
excellence. “Everything I do or touch I want to be
quality,” he says, articulating a goal that includes
for him not just programs but personnel. He
believes that in his brief tenure at the helm of The
City College of The City University of New York
he has helped contribute toward encouraging
faculty to be more “engaged” with each other’s
disciplines and to feel “recharged” about working
with a more responsive administration. #

the selection committee looks for experienced
principals with proven student achievement and
a desire to contribute positively to New York
City schools. Rather than focus on what is not
working, the program finds successes and builds
upon them. The training includes a two-week
Summer Leadership Institute at Teachers College
and at Gettysburg, Pa., the Fall Summit weekend
retreat, study sessions at Teachers College, and
the annual Leadership Conference in June. At the
ceremony, each fellow received a terracotta pot
with the tree logo filled with items symbolic of
nurturing and growth and their impending intellectual and professional journey. Included was
the book, The Killer Angels, a classic work on the
Civil War, to prepare participants for their trip to
the storied battleground at Gettysburg, where it is
expected they will feel the weight, responsibility,
and opportunities inherent in leadership.
Defying a culture where principals and their
schools compete and remain isolated from each
other, collaboration and sharing successful practices is integral to the Cahn Fellows Program.
Principals will identify a challenge in their
schools and, working with their colleagues during the course of the year, devise a solution. To
support the next generation of school leaders with
their skills and experience and sustain the program, fellows will mentor an aspiring principal
(Ally) in their schools.
Chuck Cahn is justifiably pleased with the
impact of fellows who, he explains, now reach
20 percent of New York City students. Beaming,
he says, “These are terrific people who make
a difference. If we can help a little bit and
recognize what they do, we should be proud.”
Joining him at the ceremony was his daughter,
Amanda, a Teach for America alumna and now
a student at the Columbia Graduate School of
Business. Amanda explains that during her teaching experience, “seeing how real and tragic the

achievement gap is — a huge problem that has
to be fixed — absolutely changed my life.” She
believes management and leadership are answers.
Business school is giving her necessary tools as
she learns strategy, management, and how to look
at and solve problems. She lauds “a fantastic
course,” The Education Leadership Lab, where
experts from the field speak and collaborate with
students on projects. With determination and fire
in her eyes, this next generation in an educationminded family gives hope for the future.
The 2010 cohort includes principals with varied backgrounds and experience. Several were
founding principals of schools and others were
former Cahn Allies. They work in elementary,
middle, and high schools and have achieved successes with low-functioning as well as gifted students. As an example, a new Cahn Fellow, David
J. Vazquez, principal of the Urban Assembly
Bronx School for Writers and Artists (grades 6
through 9), is also a member of New Leaders for
New Schools and is a principal facilitator with
New School Institute and Leadership Academy.
He is proud of the “unique full complement of
visual arts and a rigorous literacy program” in his
school that “prepares every student to succeed
in college.” He looks forward to the “intense
colleagueship” in the Cahn Fellows Program,
which will “push me even harder.” Randi
Herman, First Vice President of the Council of
School Supervisors and Administrators, happily
exclaimed, “I am proud that our principals, with
all the challenges they face, still believe in the
essence of school leadership.”
Speaking to the new fellows, Joshua Thomases,
Deputy Chief Schools Officer for Academics,
New York City Department of Education, emphasized the importance of teacher accountability
and “taking ownership of your work.” When parents and teachers are invested, better results are
seen. “Leadership,” he said to the principals, “is
critical to getting people involved and accountable. The goal is not a great school system, but a
system of great schools.” #

community. “We will never let a child leave
here because of a parent’s ability to pay,” Ms.
Meyerski says.
On the other hand, mirroring its diverse community does generate support that the center
would otherwise lose. In other words, board
members and volunteers who lend expertise
in fields such as business, law and fundraising
would be less inclined to step up as they have for
the past 40 years.
Of course that also applies to the financial
generosity needed to keep the center at break
even. But maintaining the population diversity
is important to families whether they pay the
full rate or not. “It’s one of the things that draws
people to us,” says Ms. Meyerski, because they
want their children to be exposed to children who
have both more and less than they do, she added.
As for the cultural component, Dotti Jordan,
executive director of the center, defers on the idea
that children under 5 think in those terms, but
she can report an impact on the parents. “I think
parents establish connections across a divide that
they might not normally make,” she says.

As the kids get older and participate in the
after-school program, they start to notice race and
ethnicity more, but a strong foundation allows
the differences to emerge in a positive way.
Relationships are formed, and after they leave,
they’ll still be friends, says Ms. Jordan.
For Ms. Meyerski, the adoptive mother of a
Latino child, her son T.J.’s participation in the
after-school program several years ago was highly agreeable. Living in nearby Yorktown Heights,
which is a predominantly homogeneous suburban
community, T.J. got a glimpse at kids that looked
like him and were also succeeding in school and
sports, she said.
Niceties such as these aside, the cuts in aid may
balance out the burdens in the legislature, but the
real bill will come due down the road. “There
isn’t a person as far as I know that doesn’t want to
work and contribute to society,” says Ms. Jordan.
So not capitalizing on that natural sentiment, the
county will see families forced into the role child
care centers now provide and place a larger tab
on the rest of us when working is taken away as
an option, she concludes. #

continued from page 14

JUNE 2010

■

FOR PARENTS, EDUCATORS & STUDENTS

■

EDUCATION UPDATE

23

Aspiring Engineers Compete in FIRST Robotics
Regional Competition
By GIOVANNY PINTO
Mascots in kooky outfits amped up the crowd,
hundreds of fans cheered, and students waited
nervously and eagerly on the sidelines as it was
almost their turn to hit the playing field. Months
of anticipation and practice boiled down to
one moment.
After the dust settled and the ball was tossed
across the field, only one team was left standing.
Was this the gridiron of a suburban high school
football game? No. This was a recent meeting of
New York City high school students at the Jacob
Javits Center for the FIRST Robotics Regional
Competition, an all out robot sporting event.
“Life seems meaningless without robots, “ said
Nelly Reyes, 19, from Queens. Reyes has been
part of the George Westinghouse Pirates F.R.C.
team for three years. She previously graduated from the school and now attends Brooklyn
College, but she comes back to help mentor the
newer students on the team. As the team met for
the allotted six weeks to build the robot, she was
constantly there to remind them of the safety
aspect. Prompting them to wear goggles and be
careful with powerful tools. “The hardest part is
knowing that you are going to fail in some areas
regardless of all your work,” Reyes added.
The event was broken into two leagues: the
FIRST Robotics Competition, F.R.C., and the
FIRST Tech Challenge, F.T.C. The two leagues
have different rules, standards and sizes of robots.
In any FIRST robot league, the robots do not
fight each other; instead, they square off to win
the most points. In the F.R.C., where larger-sized
robots costing upwards of $20,000 compete, the
goal is to collect and score life-size soccer balls
into a goal.
FIRST, an acronym for “For Inspiration and

Ellen Futter
continued from page 21
should be — and are — joyful and memorable
experiences, not obligatory one-day classroom
trips. A.M.N.H. staff works closely with public
school teachers so that students are prepped
beforehand and are led to engage in meaningful
follow-through activities. One “hugely successful” project, the Sackler Educational Laboratory
in the Spitzer Hall of Human Origins — Futter
refers to it as the “coolest lab extant” — involves
taking saliva samples from students who are
studying genomics and, a few days later, sending
them a digital sequencing of their own D.N.A.
Among recent larger accomplishments at the
museum, of course, is the dazzling Rose Center
for Earth and Space, which includes the Hayden
Planetarium, the transparent architectural design
of which supports the A.M.N.H. mission “to
debrick science.” Change has also been dramatic in areas the public doesn’t readily get to see
but should know about. Though some dioramas
remain as they were decades ago, new exhibits
draw on new findings, many the result of expeditions all over the globe. The museum also boasts
“unique” archival collections, a “vast” naturalhistory library that attracts research scientists
who come to A.M.N.H. to pursue on-site work.
For classroom visits by school children, the
emphasis is on “topicality” and on disseminating the latest research in a timely and attractive
manner. Bi-weekly science bulletins, delivered
to classrooms or computers, focus on a particular
researcher who is actually doing science, either in
a lab or in the field. Although A.M.N.H. exhibitions travel to over 100 venues in the country and
to over 20 sites abroad, it is the museum’s digital
initiatives that have been proving particularly
captivating. “The Known Universe,” for example, is the number one science video on YouTube,
while “Dinosaurs” continues to be a major iPhone
app. “Videos are the textbooks of today.”
The opening of the fully accredited
Richard Gilder Graduate School, the first

Stadium-sized action at the F.R.C. League

Recognition of Science and Technology,” is
a nonprofit organization devoted, as its name
suggests, to helping young people discover and
develop a passion for science, engineering, technology and math. All FIRST programs are organized around two principles: (1) Engaging kids
in the hands-on, minds-on process of technological innovation; and (2) Bringing communities
together in celebration of students working in
science and technology.
Students involved in FIRST are more likely to
attend college, major in science and
technology, volunteer in their community, and go on to internships. They
also are eligible to receive special
scholarships from certain colleges.
such Ph.D.-granting program at an
American museum, has only added to
the museum’s luster. Approximately
90 post docs take courses at the museum, along with teachers and teachers
in training who can receive credit
from academic institutions with whom
A.M.N.H. is partnering. The sevenweek Seminars in Science course on a
timely topic will explore, for example,
not just content knowledge but effective presentation of that knowledge
by way of videos, readings, online
blogger comments and seminar leader
feedback. Other educational initiatives
include the now six-year collaborative
Urban Advantage project that brings
together the museum, other institutions, and one-third of the city’s middle schools. President Futter is pleased
to note that data indicate better results
for Urban Advantage youngsters on
8th-grade science exams over those
not participating in the project.
”We live in an interdisciplinary
world,” she says, one in which successful institutions will be the ones
that work across various disciplines
in various media and inspire as well
as instruct. “Race to the End of the
Earth,” opening on May 29, will present the story of the contest between
a team of Norwegian and a team
of British explorers to be the first
to reach the South Pole. And this is
also the year that the Rose Center for
Earth and Space will celebrate its 10th
anniversary with special programming
throughout the year and a day-long
event on October 10.
The term “expanding universe” is
not only a part of the lexicon of
astronomers, it is also part of the
dialogue at the American Museum of
Natural History. #

The Harry S. Truman Hybrids on their way to
the playing field

The event at the Javits center was the 10th
anniversary celebration of the New York City
chapter of FIRST, complete with a college fair
and career expo. Damien Garcia was there on
behalf of the University of Rochester’s office of
admissions. He was there to inform students and
parents of the $10,000 scholarship available to
all kids involved with FIRST, an advantage that
he once benefited from as an alumnus of FIRST.
“University of Rochester believes in exposing
careers in technology,” he noted with emphasis.

For Jose Castillo, 69, an F.T.C. coach from
Westchester County via Puerto Rico, FIRST is
a way to give back as a minority professional.
He coaches the Harry S. Truman Hybrids, one of
only two F.T.C. teams from the Bronx. Last year
they won a slew of awards and even went on to
the nationals in Atlanta. “I could be playing golf
on my Saturdays, but instead I want to help these
kids. These are smart kids. Last year they went to
Atlanta, and others have gone on to college with
scholarships,” Castillo remarked. #

JUNE
11-13,
2010
Stony Brook Southampton College, Southampton NY
SPEAKERS
•Dr. Eric W. Sanderson, of the Wildlife Conservation Society and author of “Mannahatta” ,
addressing the ecological transformation of Manhattan during the past 400 years.
•Paul Mankiewicz of The Gaia Institute, discussing groundwater issues in New York City.
•Chris La Porta of the New York State Department of Environmental Protection, speaking
about artificial reefs off of New York City and Long Island.
ACTIVITIES
Hands-on workshops, Project Wet Certification training, field activities, boat trips,
and lobster dinners.
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT CREDIT IS AVAILABLE.

By MICHAEL MULGREW
Diane Ravitch is one of the nation’s most
respected writers on education policy and history. A former assistant secretary of education in
Washington (in a Republican administration), she
was an early proponent of increased accountability, charter schools, and other “market” reforms.
But Prof. Ravitch, who has followed these
issues closely in recent years, has not liked what
these policies have produced. In fact, she has
changed her mind, and her new book, The Death
and Life of the Great American School System:
How Testing and Choice Are Undermining
Education, is a ringing indictment of many current education “reforms.” It should be required
reading for single-minded proponents of test
prep, charter schools and school closings, including their cheerleaders on the editorial pages of
New York City’s tabloids.
Charter schools:
Mayor Bloomberg and Chancellor Klein have
made the expansion of charter schools a key
element of their education agenda, with the
mayor stating that one of his goals is to expand
charter schools to the point where they take in as
much as 10 percent of the city’s school kids. The
mayor and other charter proponents maintain that
charters do a better job of educating kids than
do public schools, producing higher average test
scores. Here’s what Prof. Ravitch has to say in a
recent column in The Wall Street Journal about
her findings in researching her new book:
“The higher graduation rates posted by charters
often reflect the fact that they are able to “counsel out” the lowest-performing students; many
charters have very high attrition rates (in some,
50 percent to 60 percent of those who start fall
away). Those who survive do well, but this is not
a model for public education, which must educate
all children.”
Closing Schools:
On both a local and national level, school
authorities are focusing on closing schools in
trouble rather than fixing them. The U.F.T.,
joined by the N.A.A.C.P., recently sued the
Department of Education to try to prevent it
from closing 19 schools that the department has
tried to shutter, based on shaky or indefinite
criteria. Here’s Prof. Ravitch’s analysis of this
phenomenon, nationwide:
“The current emphasis on accountability has
created a punitive atmosphere in the schools. The

Obama administration seems to think that schools
will improve if we fire teachers and close schools.
They do not recognize that schools are often the
anchor of their communities, representing values,
traditions and ideals that have persevered across
decades. They also fail to recognize that the best
predictor of low academic performance is poverty, not bad teachers.”
Testing:
Chancellor Klein has often discussed how
critical he regards the collection of data and
the importance of constant testing to determine
students’ progress. He also trumpeted dramatic
student gains on state tests as proof of the soundness of this approach, although the gains of New
York City students on national tests has been
much more modest than those recorded on the
state tests. Many teachers have complained that
the focus on preparation for state tests has taken
too much time away from real instruction on
what kids need to know. Prof. Ravitch has some
strong words about this issue also:
“In short, accountability turned into a nightmare for American schools, producing graduates
who were drilled regularly on the basic skills
but were often ignorant about almost everything
else. Colleges continued to complain about the
poor preparation of entering students, who not
only had meager knowledge of the world but still
required remediation in basic skills.”
Real School Reform:
The public debate on modern education has
been dominated recently by charter cheerleaders
and “get-tough” proponents of closing schools
and relentless testing. Too often they have combined exaggerated claims of success of their
“reform” tactics with a denunciation of their
opponents as defenders of a failed status quo.
Let’s hope that Prof. Ravitch’s unimpeachable
reputation for honesty, her rigorous scholarship
and her unmatched sense of history should now
be helping these people rethink their positions.
Meanwhile, as a teacher and union leader, I heartily endorse another of her observations:
“What we need is not a marketplace, but a
coherent curriculum that prepares all students.
And our government should commit to providing a good school in every neighborhood in the
nation, just as we strive to provide a good fire
company in every community.” #
Michael Mulgrew is the president of the United
Federation of Teachers.

“Public Education remains the bedrock
of democracy in this country,” said Dr.
Pedro Noguera recently at an education
forum spearheaded by the New York City
Department of Education’s Division of
Teaching and Learning. Dr. Noguera’s presentation, “What About the Boys? Providing
Academic Support to African-American and
Latino Males,” addressed the issues facing young males of color and their effect
academically and socially. “In every category that we associate with failure, males
of color, black and Latino males, are overrepresented, from who gets suspended and
expelled, to who is in special education,
to who is dropping out. And in every category we associate with success — honors,
gifted, AP courses — underrepresented,”
said Dr. Noguera.
Dr. Noguera is a professor of sociology in the Steinhardt School of Culture,
Education and Development. His most
recent book, The Trouble With Black Boys:
Reflections on Race, Equity and the Future
of Public Education, was released last year.
Dr. Noguera is an urban sociologist who
has extensively studied the norms of the
African-American community. The forum
took place at the Schomburg Center for
Research in Black Culture in Harlem.
Dr. Noguera believes that the rising incarceration rate among the African-American
and Latino populations is not accidental. He
says structural factors, such as the labor and
housing markets, contribute to this dilemma.
His presentation highlighted three crucial
factors: culture, structure and agency.
He criticized African-American communities for promoting stereotypes by encouraging boys to only aspire to a career in sports
or the recording industry as a rapper. He says
there is not enough emphasis on academic
careers such as education, medicine and law.
This leads Dr. Noguera to believe America
has a culture that does not value education
for poor kids, and he suggested that educators challenge these ideas in their schools
and focus on values rather than the culture
of the streets.
Principals agreed with Dr. Noguera’s presentation on the importance of changing
the school’s culture so students can become
positive and intellectual beings. “Some get
on board later than others, but you get them.
As long as they get good energy from the
adults around them and they get a sense that
the adults really care, kids are going to want
to be around that energy,” said Principal
Dorald Bastian of M.S. 328 in the Bronx.
“Sometimes its accessing the resources outside of the school based upon the
needs of the kids within the school to make
sure you can help change that culture,”
added Principal Alex Fralin, who is currently on sabbatical. As principal of I.S. 68
in Brooklyn, Mr. Fralin was able to offers
students and parents mental-health services
through a partnership he developed with a
community mental health clinic.
Dr. Noguera said strong relationships
between teachers and students form through
enrichment programs. For example, Dr.
Noguera said one team of students from
Brooklyn won sixth place at a recent robotics competition. Their teacher was proud of
the work his students did, and the students
told Dr. Noguera they aspire to become
engineers because of their experience in the
robotics program. “We need to create activities that give our kids a chance to dream, to
aspire, to imagine new possibilities,” said
Dr. Noguera. #

REACTIONS TO
PROFESSOR
PEDRO NOGUERA
By GIOVANNY PINTO
Professor Pedro Noguera, famed professor at
the Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and
Human Development at New York University,
recently gave a talk on confronting the educational crisis facing adolescent boys of color. The
event took place at the Schomburg Center for
Research in Black Culture, a research unit of The
New York Public Library. After the talk, a lively
discussion took place, featuring some of the city’s
top educators and policymakers.
Verone Kennedy, Middle School Coordinator
for the New York City Department of Education,
noted that the most powerful thing he heard from
Professor Noguera was, “it’s not about why we
serve, but how we serve,” adding that we have to
come together and change.
Charlene Sinckler, a teacher from the High
School for International Business and Finance in
Washington Heights, suggested that in order to
serve children better educators need to be more
in tune to the abilities of the children they are
teaching. She recalled one child who thought he
was slow but made to graduation with her help.
Dr. Howard Dodson, director of the Schomburg
Center, agreed with the essence of Noguera’s
speech. He thought the idea of getting the right
teachers who love to teach and getting rid of the
rest was incredible. Mr. Dodson also made note
of a program the Schomburg Center used to hold
in conjunction with NY-Life for 11- to 17-yearolds from all over the city. Held every Saturday, it
was guided by the principles that Noguera spoke
of: teaching the kids about their history and culture and helping them to become better students.
Some students from the program got full scholarships to Syracuse University. Sadly the program
ran out of money.
Sabrina Hope King, chief academic officer
in the Office of Curriculum and Professional
Development of the Department of Education,
who introduced Noguera to the packed auditorium, said that, as always, the professor’s speech
was provocative, insightful, and motivational.
Darnell Hannon from Queens, a tutor from
the Learn to Earn program of Harlem Children’s
Zone, was in attendance with some of the students
he mentors. His observation was that Professor
Noguera was proposing a stereotype, one of highachieving minority kids being branded nerdy or
white. While not all kids are influenced by this
perception, he has witnessed the negative impact
such labels can have. “I have seen students hide
their intelligence amongst their peers,” Hannon
said. “I had one girl who didn’t want anyone to
know she was a good writer. I later explained to
her there’s nothing wrong with that.” #

JUNE 2010

■

FOR PARENTS, EDUCATORS & STUDENTS

Dr. Christine Cea & Peter Cea Win Award
Dr. Christine Cea and Peter Cea were honored at Manhattan’s Ritz-Carlton hotel, where
more than 150 supporters and volunteers celebrated the Staten Island Mental Health Society’s
(SIMHS) 2010 Anniversary Ball. Among the
guests were Dr. Kenneth Popler, SIMHS president and CEO and Assemblyman Michael J.
Cusick. The award was given for their strong support of and involvement in services for children
with special needs and their families. Proceeds
from the gala will benefit the agency’s four St.
George-based programs: Teen Center, Project for
Academic Student Success, Family Support and
Family Resources that will be relocated to its new
Children’s Center at 444 St. Mark’s Place when it
opens early next year. Dr. Cea is a member of the
New York State Board of Regents.#

Dr. Christine Cea & Peter Cea

Anne Heyman: Creator of A Place
Of Peace, A Place to Heal
By JOAN BAUM, Ph.D.
When Hilary Rodham Clinton appropriated a
reputedly old African proverb for the title of her
1996 book, It Takes a Village, she could not, of
course, have known about the village for orphans
that Anne Heyman would create a few years later
in Rwanda in response to the 1994 genocide in
that country. Informing ideas about local communities as resources for those in need link Clinton’s
vision and Heyman’s, but what Heyman did was
— and is — extraordinary, as concept, execution
and development. And the Rwandan village is
only in its second year of operation!
A University of Pennsylvania graduate and a
trained lawyer with a degree from The George
Washington University Law School, Heyman
worked in the office of the Manhattan D.A. for
a couple of years, but the fact that she was born
in and spent the first 15 years of her life in South
Africa came to influence her new philanthropic
direction. She was deeply moved on hearing
about the orphans of the Rwandan genocide —
1.2 million refugee children identified by Paul
Rusesabagina, who spoke at a dinner meeting she
was attending one night. Rusesabagina had been
an assistant hotel manager in Rwanda during the
war and helped save over 1,200 lives. His story
became the subject of the award-winning 2004
movie, Hotel Rwanda. Motivated by the twin
Judaic philosophies of tikkun halev — healing the
heart — and tikkun olam — healing the world —
Heyman started to think about what she could do.
As she quickly realized, it takes more than
an ethical prompt to create, fund, organize and
sustain a village. But there was a model that
could help point the way: And thus was born
the Agahozo Shalom Youth Village (A.S.Y.V.)
in Rwanda, modeled on kibbutz-like youth villages in Israel (“agahozo” means a place where
tears are dried). Contacts at various Jewish philanthropic organizations were soon underway. A
former director of Dorot (the word translates as
“the decline of the generations”), a Manhattan
nonprofit social-service organization providing a
wide range of services for seniors, and an active
participant in the “Moral Voices” project at Tufts
University, she acted on her sense of the need for
tikkun, and drew on various experts to realize
A.S.Y.V. as a truly African enterprise. The rest,
as they say, is history, some of which can be seen
online in a number of remarkable videos.
The project so far has succeeded beyond her
“wildest dreams,” says Heyman, and she is particularly proud of the way both tikkuns are being
realized — children helping and healing themselves by helping and healing others. Heyman
was just back from Rwanda when Education
Update caught up with her. She had gone to find
out how the village was doing with its various
programs, particularly the school and clinic. She
was amazed, she says, to see children (ages 15 to
18) who could not speak English a year-and-ahalf ago, teaching English in primary school to
both students and teachers! And she was over-

(L-R) Ambassador Eugene-Richard Gasana
& Anne Heyman

whelmed (“unbelievable”!) when she saw what
16- and 17-year olds had volunteered to do at the
clinic. An important house, but filthy and totally
unhygienic, it became the target for an immediate
cleanup by the kids (later dubbed “little angels”)
who took on everything, including washing the
mosquito nets.
It is her hope, says Heyman, that A.S.Y.V. itself
will become a model for other such places in
developing countries continually ravaged by war
and natural disasters and that it will serve not
only orphans but “orphans of circumstance,” like
so many original settlers in Palestine. Of course,
Africa is not Israel. A difference between the kibbutz and A.S.Y.V. is the presence in the Rwandan
village of a “house mother,” a figure torn from the
children’s lives but who reappears as a warm and
welcoming surrogate in the form of widows from
the war. Other differences have to do with geography and economy. Rwanda is a farming country
made up of numerous districts. Nonetheless, in
addition to agricultural training, A.S.Y.V. children
also receive training in computers as well as in
skills related to cognitive development. Only 125
children a year can be admitted (they will stay
for four years), which means careful consideration of who among the vulnerable can benefit
most (approximately 60 percent of the cohort is
female). Another criterion ensures that children
are selected from every region in the country
so that they can become educated ambassadors
everywhere when they return.
A mother herself, her own children add themselves to the list of those in the village who make
up all her children. It is her hope, she adds, that
this Judaic concept will soon evolve into an
“interfaith engagement.” #

■

EDUCATION UPDATE

25

Democracy Prep: Charter School

By ADAM BLOCH
When Seth Andrew first laid eyes on 207 West
133rd Street in Harlem, he saw a derelict old
church. With some imagination, though, he also
envisioned the seed of a vibrant, new school
community. Several years later, his hope has
become a reality. That falling-down church is now
Democracy Prep Charter School, a crisp, well-lit
hive of bustling energy and learning.
Now in its fourth year and operating out of two
locations in Harlem, Democracy Prep has received
an A for the last two years on its Progress Report
from the New York City Department of Education.
It also achieved a 96 percent attendance rate last
school year and, in its Learning Environment
Survey, placed above the 90th percentile in the
four key categories: academic expectations, communication, engagement, and safety and respect.
Oh yeah, and the school achieves all this with
almost no private funding, relying nearly entirely
on the $12,000 per pupil it receives from the city, an
amount lower than what traditional public schools
get. “Charter schools are underfunded compared
to traditional schools, but even with fewer funds
they are getting better results,” Andrew said during a recent interview with Education Update in
Democracy Prep’s small but vibrant library, where
students were flitting in and out of the room. “The
research on New York City charter schools is overwhelmingly clear. I’m the first to admit that not
all charter schools are good. There are definitely
some bad or mediocre ones. But in New York City,
charter schools are doing overwhelmingly better
than other public schools.”
Andrew speaks with the curious passion and
assurance of a zealot, but one who has considered
all the alternatives and knows he can achieve
something revolutionary. He saw a run-down
church and planned a thriving school. Now he
sees a public school system that just cannot turn
things around and envisions a network of charter
schools providing alternatives and revitalizing
educational communities.
Another Democracy Prep middle school will
open in Harlem next year, expanding the incoming
class of 6th-graders to 180. Andrew is also helping
create a Democracy Prep offshoot in Providence,
R.I. The high school will also continue to expand
as the inaugural class enters 10th grade.
How does Democracy Prep do it? Andrew can
speak voluminously on every detail of school
life, but he identified five factors — “five pillars”
— that he said are common to most successful
charter schools.
The first is time. The Democracy Prep school
day runs from 7:30 a.m. to 5:15 p.m. There
is after-school tutoring until 6:30 p.m., along
with Saturday sessions, summer programs and a
weeklong orientation for new students. But just
as important is efficiency in every moment of
school life.
“When you see a transition, the kids move from
class A to class B in two-and-a-half minutes,”
Andrew explained. “There’s no time wasted. At
the beginning of the year, we teach kids how to
pass out papers. We expect them to be able to pass
out a stack of papers to the class in 15 seconds.
We get a stopwatch and make a game of it. The
average time this takes in most public schools is
between one and two minutes. If we save only a
minute each time we pass out a paper, pass out
papers 25 times a day for 200 school days, then we
just saved 5,000 minutes by teaching kids how to
pass out papers efficiently.”

Second is a “joyous school culture.” For Andrew,
this includes “joy and warmth and silliness, stickers and funny socks, so that kids enjoy coming
here every day. Neither kids or adults could do
what we do here if they weren’t enjoying themselves every day.”
The fun is paired with academic rigor, the third
factor. Every kid is expected to take algebra in the
8th grade, read 40 books per year, and take eight
Regents exams, among other tasks. The ultimate
goal is for them to attend and graduate college. As
such, Democracy Prep takes students on trips to
visit colleges. The 9th-graders have already seen
30 different campuses. “We give them rigorous
work that expects the best from them, and when
they need support, which they often do, we provide that support,” Andrew said.
In order to ensure adherence to such plans, data
collection is the fourth “pillar.” There are metrics
for everything from academic progress to school
cleanliness so that any divergence from expectations can quickly be addressed. Pupils are tested
formally every six weeks in every subject, and
teachers design their own quizzes or exams for
week-to-week assessment. Before leaving any
class, students must complete some problem or
task that demonstrates mastery of that day’s lesson.
By the late afternoon, teachers know which kids
need help. They can also document and analyze
trends over time in order to fix problems before
they become too big.
The final and most important factor is “hiring,
supporting, training and compensating great teachers,” said Andrew. “Hiring amazing staff people
is the most important element in our success.”
In order to achieve this, Democracy Prep pays a
salary that is 10 percent above the Department
of Education average for an equivalent position
and also makes a bonus of up to an additional 10
percent available. Of the nine blocks in a daily
schedule, teachers only have to be in class for five
of them. The rest they can dedicate to tutoring,
grading, and reviewing or preparing lessons.
All these are elements in many charter schools,
though. What sets Democracy Prep apart is that it
operates almost entirely on public dollars without
significant private fundraising, serves a high population of special-education students, and emphasizes an intense civics program, for which the
school is named.
About 25 percent of the student population is
special-needs, but this doesn’t lead to any lowered
expectations. Like their classmates, they too are
expected to attend college. This isn’t accomplished
easily, but it means Democracy Prep dedicates the
resources necessary to get them up to grade level,
even if it means intensive tutoring sessions. “We
give them extra support and extra time to work on
the skills they need,” Andrew said.
The school’s commitment to civic engagement
reveals itself in many ways. Every student takes a
mandatory debate class, and Democracy Prep has
been active in the community, with get-out-thevote campaigns for instance. Most importantly,
students have testified before the City Council,
the State Assembly and the State Senate in support
of charter schools and removing the cap limit on
them. “We want to prepare kids to be active citizens in their democracy, which means understanding how to make change in society,” Andrew said.
Charter schools remain small in number in New
York City, but they tend to spark a lot of news and
discussion. Results like the ones Democracy Prep
are achieving are the main reason. #

26

COLLEGES & GRADUATE SCHOOLS

WOMEN EXPLORERS AND
SCIENTISTS FETED

■

EDUCATION UPDATE

■

JUNE 2010

A MEETING OF GREAT MINDS
CHANGE EDUCATION

TO

Honorees at the gala

By SYBIL MAIMIN
It was truly a wonderful evening of contrasts as
WINGS Worldquest honored several remarkable
women explorers and scientists whose work takes
them to the most remote and often inhospitable
places on earth. Their admirers and supporters
showcased a different, and also awesome, world
as they feted the honorees in the hippest and most
iconic of New York settings: a huge, luxurious
penthouse in Tribeca overlooking the dense,
cacophonous, glittering city. The evening’s global
mood was enhanced by the Kora, Bala, and Mbira
Trio playing music from Gambia and South
Africa on instruments native to those countries.
Silent and live auctions offered trips to exotic
spots abroad as well as items made by craftspeople in faraway places. Auctioned books, photos
and artwork captured the beauty and mystery of
many locales. Even decorated ostrich eggshells
were up for bids. Some guests wore beautiful
garments representative of diverse societies they
had visited. A robed monk, introduced by the
opening speaker, actress Uma Thurman, intoned a
Buddhist blessing. This enthusiastic gathering in
Tribeca was the eighth annual WINGS Women of
Discovery Awards Program.
WINGS WorldQuest, founded in 2003 by
Milbry C. Polk, a fellow of the Explorers Club
and Royal Geographic Society, and the late Leila
Hadley Luce, daughter of Henry Luce of Life and
Time magazines fame, recognizes and supports
“visionary women who are advancing scientific inquiry and environmental conservation.” It
shows that women can be explorers, researchers
and scientists — that they can make a difference.
It provides role models for the young (and old)
with real-life stories of adventure, courage and
tenacity. A global Fellows Program facilitates
collaborations, brainstorming, and sharing with
policy makers. Since WINGS’s inception, it
has recognized over 60 women. In her remarks,
Thurman reiterated the message. “How do young
females go forth to fearlessly study nature?
Women who have found their own path set an
example for future generations.”
Honoree Kate Harris, an earth scientist, conservationist and glaciologist, explores remote places
by bicycle, including most of the 2,485-mile
length of the Silk Road in China, reflecting her
lifelong “rage for wandering.” In her travels she
has become “more and more intrigued and infuriated by boundaries. They define and perpetuate
inequalities.” She is convinced that “science and
conservation can be used to perpetuate peace”
and sees, as an example, Siachen Glacier on
the boundary between India and Pakistan. Now
essentially a huge, useless garbage dump, it could
be conserved, protected and transformed into a
Peace Park, lessening tensions in the region.
Honoree Susan Dudley, an evolutionary ecologist, studies plant kinship groups. In groundbreaking research, she has shown that plants are
capable of making animal-like decisions, such as
distinguishing between relatives and strangers.
She maintains that plants sense and respond to
environment, light, and chemicals. She is studying the implications of her findings.
The Sea Award designee was not in Tribeca.
Alexandra Morton, ocean conservationist, spoke

via video from a boat in British Columbia,
where she is working with locals to bring back
wild salmon and other marine life that is being
destroyed by fish farms. She said, “We are
nature’s immune response. This planet contains
wondrous life. We are part of that. This is about
us, our survival.”
Documentary photographers and filmmakerpartners Carol Beckwith and Angela Fisher met
in Africa, where they discovered, “We really were
kindred spirits. We shared a love of the culture of
Africa … and a dream to create a visual record
of ceremonies and rituals.” Over 35 years, they
traveled 270,000 miles in 40 countries, developed
relationships and built trust, and made a halfmillion slides. Over 40 percent of the ceremonies they photographed have since disappeared,
making their work an invaluable resource for
historians. Looking elegant in Tribeca as they
spoke enthusiastically of their unique experiences on another continent, Beckwith and Fisher
explained, “Africa taught us to appreciate the
differences in peoples and, at the same time, celebrate the similarities.”
WINGS co-founder and executive director
Milbry Polk observed, “Most people have no
idea of the contributions of women explorers and
scientists. Some of the most exciting women in
the city are here tonight. They make important
discoveries that ensure that not only we, but
other species will continue to inhabit this mysterious universe.” Her organization is determined
to “give the small push that will give them
momentum,” as well as promote general interest
in the sciences. Emphasizing the need to “help
parents and teachers overcome the profound
sense of defeat seen in young people,” WINGS
reaches out to schools with the incredible stories
of women explorers and scientists. In five years
it has touched 25,000 students with the message
that “they can.” #

Available at leading bookstores
or call 718-271-7466
www.HighMarksinSchool.com

JUNE 2010

■

FOR PARENTS, EDUCATORS & STUDENTS

Kenneth Olden Heads Up New CUNY
School of Public Health, Hunter College
By EMILY SHERWOOD, Ph.D.
When CUNY Chancellor Matthew Goldstein
set about creating the new School of Public
Health to be sited at Hunter College, he and
his colleagues knew they needed to bring in an
A-list dean to get the school off on the right
foot. Enter Dr. Kenneth Olden, renowned scientific leader, cancer researcher, and former director
of N.I.H.’s National Institute of Environmental
Health Sciences and the National Toxicology
Program, whose appointment as founding and
acting dean in 2008 was a premonition of good
things to come for the first public school of public
health in New York City.
“This appointment was one of the most exciting things that can happen to someone at this
stage in my career,” reflected the 71-year-old
Olden, who grew up in rural Tennessee and was
the first in his family of seven to attend college.
Ultimately earning a Ph.D. in cell biology and
biochemistry at Temple University, Olden cut his
teeth on cancer research (“we unequivocally prevented the spread of cancer in a mouse model”),
creating an impressive and widely published
body of research on how to prevent cancer cell
metastasis. Olden subsequently became the first
African-American to be tenured at N.I.H.; his
14-year directorship of the National Institute of
Environmental Health Sciences and the National
Toxicology Program was distinguished by a
unique ability to bring together diverse interested
parties — government, industry, academia and
the lay public — in public-health discourse while
providing an impetus for major advancements in
both clinical practice and public health policy. “I
always made my decisions based on science, not
politics,” he concluded firmly.
As founding dean of the School of Public
Health, Dr. Olden has relished the opportunity
to work with “issues that are near and dear to
my heart,” namely the interaction of genetics,
the environment and human behavior in human
disease. “Genetics loads the gun, but the environment pulls the trigger,” he explained, noting, “Americans don’t value prevention a lot.”
The new public health school, which will be
accredited shortly upon graduation of its first
doctoral student, will enable faculty and students
to delve into factors affecting the well-being of
urban populations while developing innovative
approaches to solving urban public health prob-

lems. “For many years we focused on diseases
of the 20th century,” said Olden. “But in the 21st
century we must look at chronic diseases such
as cancer, Alzheimer’s, and Parkinson’s Disease.
The cost associated with treating chronic diseases
is why we’re having the health care debate.”
And of course the demographics are changing in
America: “We’re becoming an older population.
We need to promote healthy aging,” he asserted,
adding that New York City is a wonderful place
for older people because they tend to stay connected.
In his new position, Dr. Olden is bringing
together faculty from four CUNY colleges who
have an expertise in the public-health arena:
Brooklyn, Hunter, and Lehman colleges and
the CUNY Graduate Center, which (along with
Hunter) has housed the Doctor of Public Health
programs. The collaborative effort is not without
its difficulties, but Dr. Olden, described as “the
driving force behind many of the advances in the
field of environmental health” in a commemorative journal of essays that was published upon
his retirement from the National Institute of
Environmental Health Science, is up to the challenge. “People like my parents were not highly
regarded in the world because they lacked an
education. I made a decision early on that I was
going to be somebody and would never forget
these people. I wanted to be a spokesperson for
them. I wanted people to say, ‘Ken Olden was
here,’ ” he reflected somberly. Indeed, there is
little doubt that Ken Olden — scientist, leader,
innovator, and humanitarian — was here, and
that the public-health community has benefited
enormously from his remarkable presence. #

■

EDUCATION UPDATE

Hunter President Jennifer Raab
Honored by League
of Women Voters

CUNY Chancellor Matthew Goldstein

Ever since its founding in 1870, Hunter has been
a gateway to the American dream for the sons
and daughters of working people and immigrants. Many are the first in their families to
attend college, and most juggle their studies with
child-rearing, commuting and full-time jobs. Our
mission is to give these strivers a top-quality education.”
Raab concluded with a stirring final thought.
“With the spirit of Eleanor Roosevelt in the room,
I thank all of you for this recognition. #

contrast Hardin’s work with my work,” Ostrom
concluded. “I’m not just a lone voice anymore.”
In the classroom, Dr. Ostrom practices what
she preaches. She is a faculty member of both
Indiana University and Arizona State University.
At Indiana, she is the Arthur F. Bentley professor and co-director of its Workshop in Political
Theory and Policy Analysis, which she founded
in 1973 with her husband, Vincent. “I have my
students work as a team,” she explained. “They
write me a confidential note on the contributions
of their teammates. It can influence my grade. It
definitely changes their behavior. If they are freeloading, it will be observed and reported,” she

added with a chuckle.
Dr. Ostrom’s unparalleled success — she is the
first woman to receive the Nobel in economic
science — is a reflection of both her widely
recognized intelligence and her awe-inspiring
work ethic. As a Depression-era child growing
up in Southern California, she was painfully
shy and had a stutter, overcoming both through
participation on her debate team. Her parents,
who had not been able to attend college, enrolled
her in Beverly Hills High School. Even though
she felt different because she bought her clothes
at Goodwill, she “was in an environment where
everyone went to college,” ultimately motivating her to receive her B.A., M.A. and Ph.D. in
political science from U.C.L.A. And her passion
for sustainability started at home: “My mother
taught gardening during World War II, and we
had a victory garden. We were pretty close to
self-sufficient in my home,” she said.
With her newfound celebrity status as a Nobelwinner (“I was asleep when they called me at
6:30 a.m. I screamed when I heard the news,”
she related), Ostrom’s biggest challenge now is
fitting in the “tsunami of requests” for public
appearances. Her latest book, Working Together:
Collective Action, the Commons, and Multiple
Methods in Practice, is hot off the press, and she
is desperately trying to carve out more time to
begin yet another scientific tome. It’s not a bad
problem to have, she’d admit: at the height of her
career, Elinor Ostrom is clearly bound for more
pioneering work in years to come. #

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW:
Nobel-Winner Economist Elinor
Ostrom Discusses Her Life & Work
Turning conventional wisdom on its head is
nothing new for Elinor Ostrom, the winner of
the 2009 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic
Science, whose groundbreaking research in the
area of “common pool resources” — shared natural resources where one person’s use subtracts
from another person’s use, such as forests, fisheries, grazing lands and oil fields — has dramatically changed how optimal resource management
takes place. “Earlier economic theories, such as
those of Garrett Hardin, predicted that individuals would go free-wheeling and overharvest, or
overfish, and destroy resources they needed to
survive,” explained Dr. Ostrom in a recent telephone interview with Education Update. “People
believed that normal humans were helpless, and
you had to have officials come in and tell you
what to do.”
“But in a large number of our studies, we
showed that people had developed indigenous
institutions to manage their natural resources

quite well,” she concluded forcefully.
Ostrom’s fieldwork on how real-world communities have effectively managed their resources
has spanned continents: insightful studies on
fishery management in Canada, land use in
Africa, irrigation-systems use in western Nepal,
and — near and dear to her heart — groundwater
management in California, where she was born
and raised. Governing the Commons, Ostrom’s
seminal 1990 book, became a significant voice
in the great debate over common pool resources, highlighting eight design principles that are
found in groups that organize and govern their
behavior successfully. Although conventional
solutions had been presented in the form of centralized governmental regulation or privatization
of resources, Ostrom pointed out a viable third
option: cooperative institutions that are organized
and governed by the resource users themselves,
who commit to following a set of rules with
built-in incentives for responsible, sustainable
use and punishments for infractions. “People now

President Jennifer Raab & President
Russell Hotzler, N.Y.C. College of Tech.

Laura Altschuler, co-chair of the League of
Women Voters of the City of New York, greeted
the overflowing room of guests who gathered
recently to honor Jennifer Raab, president of
Hunter College, for her effective advocacy of
higher education and her enduring impact on life
in New York City. The league, which recently
celebrated its 90th birthday, underscored the dazzling record of achievement of President Raab,
from grassroots activism to corporate work to
public service. The league gave Raab the 2010
Woman of Distinction Award. The comparison
to icon Eleanor Roosevelt is apt: Roosevelt was
also a league member and was devoted to public affairs. Raab just opened Roosevelt House,
owned by Hunter College, as a center for student
study, faculty research and public programming.
Robin Bahr, one of the league’s five co-chairs,
presented the award to Raab. In her speech, Raab
praised the leadership of Chancellor Matthew
Goldstein, “a wonderful leader, a wonderful man,
and a wonderful boss. Thank you for your support and for the phenomenal resurgence of the
City University of New York. You have accomplished one of the great turnarounds in education,
and we are all indebted to you.”
“Like the league,” she continued, “Hunter is
dedicated to equal opportunity, equal rights and
a more open, tolerant and democratic society.

Students from both schools learn the art of layout at the offices of Education Update

Life of a Teen on Dialysis
By MORGHAN JOI PASTRANA, NAOMI
WHITE, AND SHIYING FENG
Just recently, we news writers of The Young
Women’s Leadership School visited a medical
center in the Bronx where we spoke with some
people on dialysis. We interviewed 19-year-old
Ciara, who has been on dialysis for 4-5 years.
She is a senior at Dewitt Clinton High School,
but her life is very different from those of her
friends. When she is in school, for example, she
can’t really do much in gym class since she can’t
do much lifting and other things. She has to come
after school to get her treatment done. Dialysis
is the process by which uric acid and urea are
removed from circulating blood by means of a
dialyzer. The blood first goes out of the body
through a needle, is purified in the dialyzer, and
then flows back into the body through another

needle in the same arm. This takes about three
hours. Lifting things using that specific arm is
even more difficult than lifting in general.
Ciara has learned to balance between her school
life and having to go to dialysis. Her top subject
in school is math. Ciara’s hobbies include drawing and reading, and one of her favorite genres
happens to be romance. Ciara wants to become
a psychiatrist some day. Her family supports her,
and friends visit. She enjoys watching Maury on
TV. When she needs help with homework, someone at the center is there for that specific reason.
Since Ciara has been to the center for so long,
she has learned to put the needles in on her own,
which is a pretty brave thing to do. At first, Ciara
didn’t want to go to the center for three hours and
get her blood cleaned, but she has gotten used to
it over time. #

Making A Difference
By KATHERINE CASTELAN
Many of us grow up to be a doctor, a writer,
or maybe even a lawyer, and others grow up to
be the opposite. Nine girls in seventh grade were
recently chosen to go to a program founded by
Education Update to learn about being a journalist. Their first assignment was to interview
Courtney Fenner.
Courtney Elisabeth Fenner is a teacher at The
Young Women’s Leadership School, Courtney
teaches writing and she has been teaching at
TYWLS for a year.
Courtney went to graduate school at Virginia
Commonwealth University. She is a non-fiction
writer and likes to hang out and go to the park.
Some of her favorite authors are Alice Walker,
Carol Shields and Toni Cade Bambara. While
she is teaching, she wants her students to understand the subject she is teaching and what she is
talking about.

Before she worked at TYWLS, she was a
teacher at Bushwick Leaders’ High School for
Academic Excellence. She points out to her
students the difference between having an education and not having one. One of her students
at Bushwick, named Karla, was one of her best
students. She always had a book with her, and
studied very hard. But she started dating a senior,
and soon she told Courtney she was pregnant.
She stopped showing up to school and Courtney
never heard anything from her. One day, when
Courtney was at the train station, she saw Karla,
and she was really excited, but this would be the
last time she would see her. Courtney always
will remember the book Karla carried inside
her bag.
Courtney says, “We can make a difference,
even when a situation seems really depressing or
hopeless,” which shows that people always have
another chance to make things better.

By CORRINE CIVIL
Chancellor Joel I. Klein is an official with many
duties as the head of all New York City schools.
With such a high title, Chancellor Klein’s daily
jobs are extensive. Some include making decisions for the school systems, hearing out the
students, parents and employees. It is not only
TYWLS Mr. Klein is concerned about. He has
the issues of over 1,500 public schools on his
shoulders and his job is to fix them.
In 2002, Mr. Klein got a call from Mayor
Bloomberg for the job offering as the Chancellor.
Surprisingly, Mr. Klein did not expect to receive
the call of acceptance after being interviewed. Who
knew such a success could come as a surprise?
Today, Mr. Klein is dealing with budget cuts
that cut off benefits for New York City students

such as the after school programs and material we
have here at TYWLS and plenty other schools.
One of wishes is to fund programs to better the
education of New York City children.
As for the school lunch, which so many find
unappetizing, Mr. Klein is working with a company that produces our school lunch. The company tries a lot to make the food desirable but
Mr. Klein has to keep nutrition in mind. It would
not be great to have an unhealthy student body!
Chancellor Klein loves his job to see the wonderful results that fit our school systems so well.
One of his priorities is the students and what is
the best for us. Although all do not agree with his
decisions, you can see they work out for the better. Just look at the joyful people in our TYWLS
family everyday!

What a TYWLS Teacher!
By MORGHAN JOI PASTRANA
At The Young Women’s Leadership School
of East Harlem, Courtney E. Fenner works as a
6th grade humanities and 7th grade reading and
English teacher. Ms. Fenner has been working at
TYWLS for 2 years and says she enjoys it.
Ms. Fenner grew up and went to school in
Virginia. For graduate school she went to Virginia
Commonwealth University and got her master’s
in creative writing and English. Ms. Fenner
originally came to New York with a program
called New York Teaching Fellows. This is when
she started teaching. Ms. Fenner first taught
at Middle Caliget church with a group of 4-5
people. Through her teaching sessions she intro-

duced and taught different forms of writing. For
example, she taught nonfiction, mowers, poems
and songs.
As a TYWLS teacher she has agreed that there
are some high points and challenges of her job.
For example, a challenge is her different forms
of finding out why to teach. One high point is
knowing that her students still learn and know
what she is teaching. This is a high point because
in many situations she feels as if it seems that her
students don’t pay attention to anything she says,
but that may be a way to learn. It seems that Ms.
Fenner really enjoys teaching so the new question
becomes why not be a teacher yourself, and feel
the life of how many people live it!

JUNE 2010

■

FOR PARENTS, EDUCATORS & STUDENTS

■

EDUCATION UPDATE

29

EDUCATION UPDATE ’S MIDDLE S CHOOL JOURNALISM INITIATIVE

How Textbooks Get to the Classroom:
A Visit to McGraw-Hill Headquarters

Dr. Kevin Colleary presents material in an animated way
to the students while Tom Stanton looks on.

By ADAM SUGERMAN
he journalism students of The Young
Women’s Leadership School of East
Harlem recently had the opportunity
to learn how their textbooks and other
education materials get to their classrooms during a field trip to the McGraw-Hill offices in
Midtown Manhattan. Dr. Kevin Colleary, national marketing manager, Reading & Language
Arts, mesmerized the students as he presented
characteristics — many of them esoteric — of the
textbook industry, welding English language arts,
geography, history and economics into accessible
form for the general public to understand.
Starting off by connecting the word “adopt”
with “adoption,” the students learned about a
powerful force behind major decisions on textbook creation for the U.S. school market: the
roles of adoption states and open territories.
The U.S. textbook market is not one market;
rather it consists of 50 markets, one in each state.
During the interactive presentation, the students
asked many excellent questions, such as, “Does
my friend in New Jersey, who is in the same
grade that I am in, use the same materials that
I use?” Students learned that each state board
of education determines its state’s curriculum,

and to a certain extent, books are customized to
each state’s standards. The class’ teacher, Ms.
Courtney Fenner, remarked that her colleagues
at the school emphasize the New York state
standards, and the students instantly made the
connection. Besides standards, other influences
on what goes into education materials are based
on alignment to state assessments, demographics
in our population to address our nation’s diversity
(e.g., ethnicity, inclusion in regards to people
with disabilities), and other state-specific issues.
The class then had the privilege to be the
first students to see a new music program product in development: Interactive Listening Maps.
Richard Kaller, vice president and editorial director, explained how this whiteboard product was
created and gave a demonstration. Mr. Kaller
showed his passion for music as he conducted
a short 10-minute class with excerpts from the
music and graphics embedded in a kindergarten
and a fifth-grade piece. The students remembered
music classes from their earlier grades and came
away impressed by the product’s applicability to
their own lives. They also learned that the publisher not only purchases existing music and art,
but also hires musicians and artists to produce
original works.

The students in The Young Women’s Leadership School
are mesmerized by the presentation.

Richard Kaller discusses a new music product.

Tom Stanton, director of communications,
closed the presentation by taking additional questions from the students and providing background information about the presentation team.
Students’ reactions from the field trip can be

found on our Web site at http://www.educationupdate.com. #
Adam Sugerman is co-publisher of Education
Update and publisher of his own imprint,
Palmiche Press.

Robert Kennedy School Students Praise the Program
Dear Dr. Rosen,
Thank you for taking us to all those wonderful trips. My favorite was the Animal Medical
Center. Thank you most of all for teaching us
about how to become a news reporter and writing
articles. You picked the right class. Thank you
for everything.
Romeo
Thank you very much Dr. Rosen. You are a
very nice person. You taught us how to write
an article. My favorite part of the Journalism
Initiative was the Animal Medical Center. I
enjoyed it because I saw a lot of injured cats and
dogs get help.
Marquis
Thank you for publishing my articles in your
paper. Thanks to Education Update for giving

me the chance to interview people. Thank you
for giving me ideas on what to write about,
helping me out with the mistakes in my drafts
and inspiring me. I also appreciate the trips you
invited me to.
Felipe Pau
Thank you for making our dream come true.
You did a lot of stuff for me. I will never forget
you. May God bless you forever.
Ronate Anderson

like being the editor of AM-New York or another
major newspaper. When I opened that newspaper
and saw my face, I felt famous. My class and I
love being in the newspaper.
Thank you for choosing our school to participate in the Journalism Initiative. I appreciate you
teaching us about newspapers, reporting, interviewing, and writing articles.
Timothy Millan

Thanks for teaching us about the newspaper, reporting, interviewing, writing articles. I
learned a lot about all of that. We all love you
and like you.
Isaiah

Thank you for helping us learn how to interview someone. Thank you for helping us learn
to be a reporter and helping us make crossword
puzzles. I am really grateful for everything that
you did for us.
Brandon DeJesus

My experience with Education Update was

My favorite trip was Hunter College because

that’s where we learned how to make a crossword puzzle. Thank you for teaching me how to
write an article. I learned how to put a newspaper
together. It’s very interesting and cool!
Tiffany
I want to thank you for giving us a chance to do
all the things we have done, like meet the chancellor. Thank you for teaching us about newspapers, interviewing and writing articles.
Catia
I want to thank you for everything you’ve
done, like teach us how to interview people and
write articles. You taught me all about newspapers, reporting, crossword puzzles, and how to
use Photoshop. I will try my best to do articles
for Education Update for you!
Morgan Roman

30

EDUCATION UPDATE

■

FOR PARENTS, EDUCATORS & STUDENTS

■

JUNE 2010

Students Inspired During National Lab Day at Rockefeller University
BY GIOVANNY PINTO
Students from the Renaissance High School
of Musical Theater and Technology in the
Bronx recently descended on The Rockefeller
University’s East Side campus for an all day science lesson. The visit was part of National Lab
Day, a nationwide initiative to bring students and
educators together with local scientists for discovery based science experiences.
The students packed into an auditorium
and were introduced to the rich history of the
Rockefeller family by Bernice B. Rumala, a
community engagement specialist. Ms. Rumala
got the students energized by telling them about
her past, growing up in the rough neighborhoods
of Harlem and Bedford-Stuyvesant. “Regardless
of where you are from you can be whatever
you want,” Ms. Rumala offered the students as
encouragement. “And if they tell you otherwise,
brush them off,” she added, a remark which was
met with wild applause.
She was followed by a research presentation
on bacteria and antibodies by Dr. Ray Schuch, a
research assistant professor, and a science demonstration by Ted Scovell, director of science
outreach. Mr. Scovell presented many engaging
experiments to the students, among them presenting balloons to the crowd. Soon, balloons were

Ted Scovell, director of science outreach

Students toss around balloons to
simulate particles moving at different
temperatures

flying everywhere representing particles moving
at high temperature. “Is science cool?” Mr. Scovell
asked. “Yes!” was the overwhelming enthusiastic
response from the crowd. Putting an air-filled
balloon in dry ice produced a deflated balloon
quickly, much to the amazement of the students.
Next, a panel of student scientists representing
all genders, cultures, and placements in science
careers spoke to students about what they do.
They encouraged the high-schoolers to look into
science careers because at the graduate level many
students like them receive full financial aid as well
as fellowships in the science field.

The students and teachers then broke up into
pairs with the student scientists for a tour of The
Rockefeller University. Students who were paired
up with Rudy Bullani, a Ph.D. student, got to see
the labs where he works with birds. They saw
where he operates on the birds, chambers where he
records bird sounds, and they even got to hold test
tubes containing bird embryos, which one student
compared to “the size of chewed-up gum.”
The day was capped off by a mix-and-mingle
lunch of pizza provided by the university. There
the students learned how to get involved with the
Science Outreach Program, held in the summer for

Ruby Dee and Claremont Prep
Celebrate Langston Hughes

By SYBIL MAIMIN
Legendary actress Ruby Dee, accompanied by
a trio of star jazz and blues musicians, ignited
the stage at Claremont Preparatory School in
Manhattan’s financial district in a memorable
assembly program to commemorate National
Poetry Month.
The moving tribute, “Celebrating Langston
Hughes,” was backed by dramatic lighting and
a large screen with text that followed the program. Dee, together with selected students and
staff, recalled key moments of Hughes’ life and
read from a generous selection of his poems.
The effect was magical as Dee, slight in stature
but big in talent and passion, recreated Hughes’
journey through history and spoke his sometimes
agonizing and sometimes hopeful words. Foot
tapping, fingers snapping, voice modulating, body
expressively moving, Dee, now 86 years old and
lovely as ever, shared with her young audience the
amazing range of her talent and spirit.
The Hughes they learned about was born in
1902 and always identified strongly with the
African-American experience. From his signature
poem, “The Negro Speaks of Rivers” (in his first
book, The Weary Blues, 1926), sparked by his
initial sight of the Mississippi River where his
people were “sold down river,” to poems like
“The White One,” “Song After Lynching,” “Jim
Crow Car,” and “Freedom,” Hughes expressed
the pathos of his people. Although he traveled
around the world, Hughes regarded Harlem as
home and, in the 1920s, helped shape the Harlem

Renaissance. His poems contain the rhythms of
blues and jazz, the dialect of African-American
speech, and the sights and sounds of Harlem.
He is sometimes remembered for his line “What
happens to a dream deferred? Does it dry up like
a raisin in the sun? … or does it explode?” the
genesis for the title of the well-received 1959
play, “A Raisin in the Sun.” Hughes died in 1967.
His home, at 20 East 127th Street, is landmarked,
and 127th Street is called Langston Hughes Place.
“Celebrating Langston Hughes” was written and
directed by Claremont Prep’s music teacher,
Meena Jahi.
In addition to being a Grammy Award-winning
musician, an Academy Award-nominated
actress, and a National Medal of Arts- and
Kennedy Center Honors-recipient, Ruby Dee
is rightly described as a “person of history.”
She and her late husband, Ossie Davis, were
deeply involved in the civil rights struggle and
were personal friends of Martin Luther King Jr.
and Malcolm X (Davis delivered the eulogy at
Malcolm X’s funeral).
At a luncheon in Claremont’s handsome woodpaneled conference room, Dee told 16 specially
invited students about growing up on the front
lines of the Movement. “I don’t remember not
fighting for something,” she explained. “It’s like
I came out of the womb and got on a picket line.”
She credits Hughes with inspiring her to write the
poem “Calling All Women,” in which she pleads
with women of all classes and backgrounds to
unite and fight for basic rights. Dee also described

two weeks, in which students can be placed in labs
of their interest.
The trip came about through the efforts of the
high school’s science teacher, Linda Ewool. When
she heard about National Lab Day she drafted a
proposal to several science universities in New
York City about working with her students. The
Rockefeller University responded.
“I got a better understanding of Rudy’s profession,” said Adam Edwards, 16, one of the few
freshmen chosen to attend because of his high
science grades. “This is influential in my life.
Maybe I’ll want to do this all because of what he
showed me.” #

Could RTI Get Us to the Top Faster
Than Race to the Top?
By SUSAN CRAWFORD

(R-L) Ruby Dee and the event-organizer/Claremont Prep choral director, Meena Jahi,
exude passion during a duet of the works of Langston Hughes.

Bernice B. Rumala, Community
engagement specialist

Among the goals of the Obama administration’s
Race to the Top contest, as well as of education
reformers on the left and the right and of local
school districts and parents everywhere, is to
have a “highly qualified” teacher in every classroom. And who wouldn’t want that? But as any
teacher at any level of experience or expertise
can tell you, it is very difficult for teachers to
fulfill their missions with students who cannot
read adequately.
This is not just a concern in the early grades.
Our school system is filled with students who
were never given the help they needed early on,
and so continue to struggle all the way up through
high school — if they make it that far. How big is
the problem? In the 1990s the National Institute of
Child Health and Human Development convened
a panel to look into what should be done for struggling readers. The panel issued its report in 2000.
Among its findings were that nearly four out of
ten children still struggle with reading at fourth
grade, and half of those — a full 20 percent of the
population — are dyslexic. The panel also issued
guidelines for appropriate interventions, and these
became, in part, the basis for the Response to
Intervention, or R.T.I., protocol. The idea is to
provide increased levels of help to readers who
need it until each student is successfully reading.
Unfortunately, R.T.I. stops short of its mission.
Schools select programs for struggling readers,
but if students are not “getting it,” it is often
considered the student’s failing rather than that of
the program being implemented. So we still have
the problem of “retaining” students, or of students
being “counseled out” to other schools, rather

than continuing up the ladder of interventions that
the reading panel recommended.
When students have reading disabilities from
dyslexia or auditory processing disorders, they
need intensive, one-on-one work for a period of
generally one to three months. The more compressed and intensive the intervention, the faster
it works, since it is literally opening up neural
pathways in the student’s brain that are needed
for better reading skills. This compares with the
long-standing tradition of sending such students
to after-school tutors, often twice a week over the
course of years, where the focus has historically
been more on learning how to accommodate and
compensate for the reading impairment rather
than on correcting it. Students who are not “natural” readers will never necessarily have the facility with reading and comprehension that “natural”
readers might, but appropriate interventions can
certainly help most of them navigate their schoolwork with little more than a need for extended
time on tests.
To ensure that the maximum levels of reading interventions are available to struggling
readers who need them, school systems should
include those listed on the International Dyslexia
Association’s Matrix of Multisensory Structured
Language Programs. These are the types of programs that the reading panel recommended. If
we implement them nationwide, ensuring that
every struggling reader at every grade and every
income level has access to the right kind of help,
we stand a much better chance of winning any
races to the top. #
Susan Crawford is the director of the Right to
Read Project.

a “totally different time” to the students, when
black people could not get jobs, bank loans, or
hotel rooms. There were also fewer distractions,
she said. She did not watch television or go to
the movies while growing up. Dee saw her time
with the Claremont students as “helping me put
my life in perspective and helping me understand
where the world is heading.” She went on to say,
“[I see] humanity growing and moving to reach
its astonishing full potential, the magic of ourselves. Reach out and your arm grows and your
spirit grows.”
Claremont headmaster Irwin Shlachter
explained that the Langston Hughes program
reflects a core mission of the school: teaching
and promoting diversity. He believes the school’s

location in the heart of the financial district makes
it especially aware of the need to prepare students
for a global society. The first independent nonsectarian school below Canal Street, it opened in
2005 with 54 students. Following a master plan
to grow to a Nursery-through-12 school, it now
has 515 students and will graduate its first class
of seniors in 2013. Located in the grand Bank of
America International Building, originally built
in 1929 but has been renovated to accommodate a
school, it retains some original highlights, such as
the grand ballroom with its massive columns and
historic murals (now the auditorium) and the former bank vault with its forbidding safe door (now
the café). Space in the nearby Cunard Building is
being refitted to accommodate the upper grades. #

JUNE 2010

■

FOR PARENTS, EDUCATORS & STUDENTS

Supreme Court Must Not Minimize
K-12 Nondiscrimination Policies
By FRANCISCO M. NEGRÓN JR.
Most of us think that nondiscrimination policies are a good thing. After all, nondiscrimination policies help us ensure that our students
and employees are treated fairly. They declare
our commitment to equality, safe learning environments, and participatory processes. They let
everyone know that our schools will not tolerate
discrimination on the basis of certain intrinsic
characteristics, including race, national origin,
gender and religion.
But what if a nondiscrimination policy, the
very one that was meant to prevent the ills of
discrimination, actually does the opposite? Such
was the argument of the Christian Legal Society
at the University of California Hastings College
of the Law in an oral argument before the
Supreme Court. The debate centers on whether
the Christian Legal Society statement of faith (a
loyalty oath of sorts) and its policy of preventing gays from voting or holding office in the
organization are inconsistent with the organization’s fundamental Christian beliefs. Because the
policy violated the university’s nondiscrimination
policy, Hastings withheld official recognition of
the organization as a student group.
The Christian Legal Society claimed the policy
was unconstitutional because if students who do
not subscribe to the core beliefs of the organization could actively participate in it, then they
could change the very nature of the organization.
That, they claim, violates students’ constitutional
rights to freedom of association and freedom
of expression.
Not all chief justices appeared convinced that a
nondiscrimination policy that applies across the
board to all organizations violates any constitutional precepts. Newly appointed Chief Justice
Sonia Sotomayor, for instance, asked whether it
was all right for a group “to exclude all black
people, all women, all handicapped persons, [or]
whatever other form of discrimination a group
wants to practice, ... [and whether] a school has
to accept that group and recognize it, give it funds
and otherwise lend it space.”
No, said the Christian Legal Society, because
that sort of discrimination is based on a person’s
status as opposed to a person’s beliefs. But retiring Chief Justice John Paul Stevens appeared to
see little distinction between the two. “What if,”
he asked, “the belief is that African-Americans
are inferior?” The Christian Legal Society argued
that the university still would be required to recognize the organization. Chief Justice Antonin
Scalia appeared to suggest that such an organization would fall prey to its own infirm purpose,
saying, “You can have a student organization,
I suppose, of that type. It wouldn’t include
many people.”
But while Chief Justice Scalia may see a nondiscrimination policy as needless here, because
hate groups at public universities are likely to
wither on the vine, that luxury is not an option for

K-12, where schools are
charged with safeguarding the safety of their
students in loco parentis.
How, for instance, does
a public school teach
youngsters about equality, civics and democratic
values and at the same
time sponsor a student
group that promotes racial hatred?
Most would argue that these concepts are so
diametrically opposed (and potentially disruptive)
that they cannot be reconciled. It is easy to see
how an officially sanctioned hate group in high
school imperils student safety. These are some
of the policy implications the National School
Boards Association urged the court to consider in
its amicus brief in support of Hastings.
In the K-12 extracurricular setting, nondiscrimination policies are useful tools with salutary
effects that support essential academic goals.
Because schools use extracurricular and afterschool programs to augment the academic lessons
with professional and life skills like leadership
and civics, it makes sense for public schools
to require their extracurricular organizations to
be open to all students, just like the classroom.
Many, if not all, states mandate that school boards
adopt nondiscrimination policies.
In addition, federal laws such as the Equal
Access Act require schools to open their doors to
a variety of outside groups if the schools sponsor
non-curricular clubs and organizations. Because
untangling this web of competing constitutional
interests places an enormous, untenable burden on schools, the National School Boards
Association urged the court to preserve a school’s
application of its non-discriminatory policy in
an all-comers approach. In other words, the best
way to ensure extracurricular opportunities for
students while keeping them safe is to continue
to allow schools to require all student organizations to comply with a nondiscriminatory policy
applied equally, across the board, to all groups.
The all-comers approach achieves what the
courts have long held: that the constitutional
rights of students must be balanced with the special characteristics of the school setting. And, the
interests of all students are best protected when
schools are free to implement nondiscriminatory
policies in a fair and neutral manner.
In the words of Chief Justice Sotomayor, “This
sounds like a debate over whether the policy, as
the school believes it should be implemented, is
not a good one. But isn’t that their choice? Don’t
we give deference to an educational institution in
terms of the choices it makes about affecting its
purposes? And the purpose here is we don’t want
our students to discriminate.”
Hear, hear!
Francisco M. Negrón Jr. is the general counsel
for the National School Boards Association.

Artist Meera Thompson
By JOAN BAUM, Ph.D.
How should Meera Thompson first present herself — as “artist-teacher” or as “teacher-artist”?
An impossible choice, since both have been
life-long passions and interconnected professional pursuits.
Though Ms. Thompson started her teaching
career with young children, she eventually concentrated on the upper levels when she taught art
at the Hewitt School and the Chapin School and
then, as head of the art department, at the Buckley
School. In the last few years she has been an
adjunct faculty member at New York University
and Queensborough Community College in their
divisions of continuing and professional studies,
where she teaches representational drawing.
During this same time she has continued
to evolve as a painter. In a series of “New

Paintings” that go
on exhibit at the
end of this month,
she shows how she
has become more
abstract in the last
two years. In “A
Sense of Place”
(2008) a specific
image was often the prompt. In “New Paintings,”
beautifully composed swaths of color (gouache,
ink, watercolor) tease the eye over textured
handmade paper, suggesting dream landscapes
that may owe more to memory than to immediate
experience. She chuckles: once, when she was
doing representational work, a viewer came up
to her and said, “I recognize that, it’s Bermuda,
where I went on my honeymoon.” Not so, but

■

EDUCATION UPDATE

31

Pres. Donna Shalala Honored at
NYU College Of Nursing
By SYBIL MAIMIN
In New York City to deliver the keynote at
the N.Y.U. College of Nursing commencement
where she accepted the Helen Manzer Award
“for her exemplary leadership for the health of
the nation,” the much-honored University of
Miami president, Dr. Donna Shalala, spoke with
Education Update. Commenting on the recently
passed health care reform bill (Shalala was U.S.
Secretary of Health and Human Services from
1993 to 2001), she noted approvingly that the
new law will generate more roles for nurses and
nurse practitioners to accommodate the coming increased emphasis on primary, chronic,
and palliative care. Steeped in the subject, she
teaches a course on the U.S. health care system
at the university. Suicide, a growing phenomenon among high school and college students,
receives her attention. “We train lots of people
to notice symptoms,” she explains, “but the best
source of information is friends.” A counseling center at the university evaluates suicidal
students to determine if they require long-term
care. U.M., a private research university with
over 15,000 students, boasts one of the top
medical schools in the nation, the Miller School
of Medicine.
Under Shalala, “world-class people have been
recruited for medical research.” With her “disciplined strategy to improve quality,” U.M. has
improved its image and risen dramatically in
U.S. News and World Report rankings. Created
under her watch, an accelerated interdisciplinary science curriculum, “Prism,” attracts very
bright students.
Shalala has also had great success as a fundraiser during her nine years at the university,
raising the incredible sum of $1.4 billion from
131,000 donors in “Momentum: The Campaign
for the University of Miami.” She attributes her
success to patience and willingness to listen.
“Do your homework,” she advises. “You have
to know a lot about the donor and his financial situation” before broaching the topic of
giving. Learn about the donor’s interests and
connections to the university. For example, the
Miller School of Medicine got its name from a
donor who gave $100 million for commemorative naming rights. Another donor may have a
personal story of poverty and access to higher
education through scholarships. She may want
to give back by endowing gifts for current needy
students. In addition, be grateful for all gifts,
advised this wise fundraiser. “You never know
when a $10,000 donor will turn into a $10 mil-

lion donor.”
Born in Cleveland to Lebanese immigrant parents, this dynamo scholar, teacher and administrator attended public school and received a B.A.
from Western College for Women. Attending a
women’s college “definitely made a difference,”
she reports. “It gave me an academic perspective
and focus.” Following a two-year stint in the
Peace Corps in Iran, she received a Ph.D. from
the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public
Affairs at Syracuse University. Entering higher
education, she taught at CUNY’s Baruch College
and Columbia University’s Teachers College
before assuming leadership roles as president of
Hunter College (1980-87) and then chancellor
of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where,
as the first woman to head a Big Ten university
(1987-93), she raised over $400 million. The
longest running H.H.S. secretary, she served in
the cabinet the full eight years of Bill Clinton’s
administration before coming to U.M. in 2001.
Shalala has been awarded over three dozen
honorary degrees as well as other awards,
including the National Public Service Award
(1992), Glamour magazine’s Woman of the Year
(1994); she was also named one of America’s
Best Leaders by U.S. News and World Report
and the Center for Public Leadership at Harvard
University’s Kennedy School of Government
(2005). In 2008, President George W. Bush
presented her with the Presidential Medal of
Freedom, the highest civilian award in the nation.
In Shalala, this year’s 455 graduates of the
N.Y.U. School of Nursing certainly have an
inspiring role model. And Shalala’s mentors,
the late Alan K. Campbell, dean of the Maxwell
School at Syracuse University, and the late
Lawrence A. Cremin, historian and president of
Columbia’s Teachers College, nurtured a student
of whom they would be proud. #

who’s to quarrel with an admirer who buys your
work? Still, Ms. Thompson hopes that the main
connection the viewer made was emotional, that
she had an intuition of the painting as an expression of the “human spirit” of the artist and of her
own human spirit, in responding to it.
The range of Ms. Thompson’s interests and
experience is impressive. She has taught the
very young and older adults, students from private school and public college graduates looking to new careers through art. What has linked
them all is Ms. Thompson’s deep belief in the
value of drawing. The disparity between what
she does — teaching figuration in the classroom
and on site at museums, and what she does in her
studio as a gestural abstractionist — only reinforces her sense that art, regardless of subject
matter, style or medium must primarily engage
the imagination.
Of course she knows the differences between
the ways children and adults approach art. Kids
have easier access to their creative imaginations
and a greater willingness to experiment. Adults
tend to be more focused and selective, as well as
more guarded about their emotional responses,
but they also understand how drawing has helped
them “see differently,” think differently. These
are valuable acquisitions for older students,
especially those who come from other countries

where it would have been impossible to elect to
take a sketching course without having to matriculate: where they would not have had a chance to
remake themselves studying art.
In effect, Ms. Thompson did just that —
remake herself — turning from being a figurative artist and a representational watercolorist
painting landscapes in Maine to an abstractionist. A Vassar graduate with an M.F.A. from
Boston University, Ms. Thompson credits “great
mentors” at both institutions, where she came
to value the importance of drawing. It is at
the heart of what she teaches and beneath the
surface of her glowing canvases. No one coming through one of her courses would ever
say what that apocryphal 3-year-old viewing a
Jackson Pollock is reported to have cried out:
“I can do that.” Children are natural modernists,
but what’s behind the making of an acclaimed
abstract artist — or prospective graphic designer
or animator or architect — is drawing. Let the
budget threats come, but let those who know
better reassert the value of art to observation,
thinking and humanity.
Meera Thompson, “New Paintings” will be on
exhibit at Atlantic Gallery from May 25 to June
19. The gallery is at 135 West 29th Street, Suite
601. Hours are from noon to 6 p.m., Tuesday
through Saturday. #

32

EDUCATION UPDATE

■

FOR PARENTS, EDUCATORS & STUDENTS

THE DEAN’S COLUMN

The Unusual Number Nine
By DR. ALFRED POSAMENTIER
It is the obligation of every elementary school
teacher to motivate and enrich students about the
wonders of mathematics. This can be done with
some history and some off-the-beaten-path topics
as we offer here.
Students will be fascinated to learn that the
first occurrence in Western Europe of the HinduArabic numerals we use today was in 1202 in
the book, Liber Abaci, by Leonardo of Pisa
(otherwise known as Fibonacci). This merchant
traveled extensively throughout the Middle East
and in the first chapter states that
“These are the nine figures of the Indians 9,
8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. With these nine figures, and
with the symbol, 0, which in Arabic is called
zephirum, any number can be written, as will be
demonstrated below”.
With this book the use of these numerals was
first publicized in Europe. Before that the Roman
numerals were used. They were, clearly, much
more cumbersome. Take a moment to have students ponder how they would do their calculations if all they had at their disposal were the
Roman numerals.

Fibonacci, fascinated by
the arithmetic calculations
used in the Islamic world,
first introduced the system of casting out nines
as a check for arithmetic
in this book. Even today
it still comes in useful. However, the nice thing
about it is that it again demonstrates a hidden
magic in ordinary arithmetic.
Before we discuss this arithmetic-checking
procedure, we will consider how the remainder
of a division by 9 compares to removing nines
from the digit sum of the number. Let us find
the remainder when 8,768 is divided by 9. The
quotient is 974 with a remainder of 2.
This remainder can also be obtained by “casting out nines”* from the digit sum of the number
8,768: 8+7+6+8 = 29, again casting out nines:
2+9 = 11, and again: 1+1 = 2, which was the
remainder from before.
Consider the product 734 • 879 = 645,186. We
can check this by division, but that would be
somewhat lengthy. We can see if this could be
correct by “casting out nines.” Take each factor

DR. DAVID S. HILL: BRIDGING
THE G AP B ETWEEN TEACHERT RAINING AND TEACHING
By RICH MONETTI
In 2004, as the new dean of education, health
and human services at SUNY Plattsburgh, Dr.
David S. Hill was looking for ways to implement
meaningful change at his institution. His exploration found that there was not a strong enough
connection to the public school system. Almost
six years later, he continues to move Plattsburgh
closer in line with the New York state educational system, while keeping a fluent dialogue
remains the objective.
Coming over from Keene State College in
New Hampshire, where he was the dean of the
professional and graduate studies, Dr. Hill was
still familiar with an animosity that first emerged
about 15 years ago between the New York public
school system and SUNY. “The SUNY system
used to provide teachers who took our students
as student-teachers a free course,” he says. That
support was partially withdrawn, as only a quarter of the cost was covered by SUNY.
Additionally, colleges and universities have
long forced student-teachers on schools without
accountability. “The risk involved was that the
student-teacher might not be effective, in which
case a whole semester’s work with children was
lost,” he said.
In response, Plattsburgh began implementing
what they call “a community service approach.”
Making sure they are giving something back,
he says, “We won’t put a student in a classroom
unless we know that the teacher is prepared to
have that student do something that contributes
to the class.”
At the same time, Plattsburgh faculty doesn’t
just hand off a student teacher and walk away.
Each time a faculty member has a group of students in a school, he says, the faculty member
must be present. “It’s really labor intensive,” he
says, but the in-depth involvement acts to reenergize Plattsburgh faculty. In turn, by interacting
with teachers and principals, professors gain
insight into what’s going on in today’s schools,
he adds.
Rebuilding the bridge slowly, that scenario
played directly into what Dr. Hill identified early
on as a key challenge faced by his program. In
looking at getting professors up to speed, he
realized, “We needed to become more aware of
what was going on in the public schools.”
He began sitting in on public-school class-

rooms. Having left behind teaching special
education in the early 1970s, he says, “I knew
that it was important for me to see what was
expected of the special-education teacher under
the new laws in order for me to effectively prepare our teachers.”
Additionally, curriculum demands have greatly
increased, and No Child Left Behind legislation
has, he says, made teachers accountable in ways
he never dreamed of when he began his career.
As a result, Dr. Hill, who has a bachelor’s degree
in psychology from Allegheny College and a
master’s degree and a doctorate in special education from Temple University, pushed Plattsburgh
into a complete reinvention.
“We used common readings,” he says, in
order to collaboratively amass a new course of
action. Linda Darling Hammond’s Preparing
Teachers for a Changing World: What Teachers
Should Learn and Be Able to Do and Peter
Senge’s Schools that Learn were the main
guidelines. Designing the Plattsburgh program
around best practices, he says, “We instituted
and adapted aspects of both those books in our
redesigned program.”
Looking outward for Plattsburgh education
graduates, the prospects are mixed. With more
and more children being identified out of the
standardized education model, he says, there’s
always a special education market. Additionally,
in trying to comply with all the paperwork and
regulations, high teacher burnout occurs, leaving
ample openings for graduates.
A couple of months out, most can expect a job,
but the outlook is different for elementary education majors. Plattsburgh’s most popular major,
he says, “There are five times as many certified
childhood education teachers as there are positions in New York.”
On average, it can take three or four years
to land a job. Otherwise, he says, if out-ofstate is an option, Plattsburgh grads are heavily recruited in Maryland, South Carolina and
North Carolina.
Plattsburgh makes sure elementary education
majors understand the value of their studies.
“We point out that the skill set developed in the
major is transferable to other kinds of jobs, so
you don’t have to be a teacher just because you
graduated with a teaching degree,” he says.
As for grads coming out with non-education

and the product and add the digits, and then add
the digits if the sum is not already a single digit
number. Continue this until a single digit number
is reached
For 734:
7+3+4 = 14; then 1+4 = 5
For 879:
8+7+9 = 24; then 2+4 = 6
For 645,186:
6+4+5+1+8+6 = 30
Since 5•6 = 30, which yields 3 (casting out
nines: 3+0=3), is the same as for the product, the
• could be correct.
answer
For practice, have students do another castingout-nines
“check” for the following
multiplication:
p
g
56,589 • 983,678 = 55,665,354,342
For 56,589:
5+6+5+8+9 = 33;
For 983,678:
9+8+3+6+7+8 = 41;
For 55,665,354,342: 5+5+6+6+5+3+5+4+3+4+2 = 48;

3+3 = 6
4+1 = 5
4+8 = 12;

To check for possibly having the •correct product: 6 • 5 = 30 or 3+0 = 3, which matches the 3
resulting from the product digits.
The same scheme can be used to check the
likelihood of a correct sum or quotient, simply
by taking the sum (or quotient) and casting
out nines, taking the sum (or quotient) of these
“remainders” and comparing it with the remainder of the sum (or quotient). They should be
equal if the answer is to be correct.
The number nine has another unusual feature,
which enables us to use a surprising multiplication algorithm. Although it is somewhat complicated, it is nevertheless fascinating to see it work
and perhaps try to determine why this happens.
This procedure is intended for multiplying a

■

JUNE 2010

number of two digits or more by 9.
It is best to discuss the procedure with your
students in context: Have them consider multiplying 76,354 by 9. (See Chart I Below)
Although it is a bit cumbersome, especially
when compared to the calculator, this algorithm
provides some insights into number theory. But
above all it’s cute! #
Dr. Alfred Posamentier is distinguished lecturer
at NY City College of Tech, professor emeritus of
mathematics education and former dean of the
school
of education at City College of New York,
g
author of over 45 Mathematics books,
including: Mathematical Amazements
1+2 = 3
and Surprises (Prometheus, 2009) Math
Wonders to Inspire Teachers and Students (ASCD,
2003), and The Fabulous Fibonacci Numbers
(Prometheus, 2007), and member of the New York
State Mathematics Standards Committee.
* “Casting out nines” means taking bundles of nine
away from the sum, or subtracting a specific number of
nines from this sum.
CHART I

Step 1
Step 2

Step 3
Step 4

Subtract the units digit of the
multiplicand from 10
Subtract each of the remaining
digits (beginning with the tens
digit) from 9 and add this
result to the previous digit in
the multiplicand (For any two
digit sums carry the tens digit
to the next sum.)
Subtract 1 from the left-most
digit of the multiplicand
List the results in reverse order
to get the desired product.

10 – 4 = 6
9 – 5 = 4,
9 – 3 = 6,
9 – 6 = 3,
9 – 7 = 2,

4+4=8
6 + 5 = 11, 1
3 + 3 = 6, 6 + 1 = 7
2+6=8

7–1=6
687,186

COLLEGE OF STATEN ISLAND

News & Views
• It took a little over six hours, 18 innings, and 40
total runs, but the men’s baseball team took home
their 14th CUNYAC Postseason Championship
title, knocking off the No. 4 seed and defendingchampion Baruch College Bearcats in a twinbill
played at M.C.U. Ballpark in Brooklyn.
• C.S.I. Voted One of the Best Companies to
Work for on S.I.
The results are in and the College of Staten
Island has been voted one of the best companies
to work for on Staten Island among companies with more than 100 employees. The voting
was sponsored by the Staten Island Economic
Development Corporation (S.I.E.D.C.), and presented by S.I.E.D.C. Ambassadors. Other winners
in the 100+ employees category were Con Edison
and Eden II.
• Kids Come to Campus
The College of Staten Island hosted another
fun and eventful Take Our Daughters and Sons to
Work Day last week, as college faculty and staff
brought their little ones to campus. The children
were welcomed with refreshments in Building
2A and had the chance to have a C.S.I. ID taken.
After that, they went to Building 1A where they
enjoyed some lectures from Professors Calvin
Holder, Shaibal Mitra, Francisco Soto and Donna
Scimeca in the Conversation Cafe, where they
learned about life in the Caribbean, the birds of
Staten Island, the Spanish language, and U.S.
historic figures.
• C.S.I. Student Selected for Jeannette K.
Watson Fellowship
For the third consecutive year, a C.S.I. student
has been accepted into the Jeannette K. Watson
Fellowship. Irvin Ibarguen is a sophomore

member of The Verrazano School, majoring in
Business Marketing. Although only a sophomore,
Irvin has already participated in three internships:
with the publisher Simon & Schuster’s marketing
department, the marketing department for the
S.I.N.Y. non-profit organization, and the executive director’s office of Northfield Bank.
• Brazile Keynotes Student Leadership
Conference
The 2010 Student Leadership Conference, entitled “Inspiring Civility” at the College of Staten
Island recently treated students from C.S.I. and
other schools to a day-long program of speakers and workshops to hone both leadership and
interpersonal skills in an increasingly fragmented
political landscape.
• Peace Club Event Celebrates, Promotes
Activism
C.S.I. students, including members of the Peace
Club and N.Y.P.I.R.G., and friends came together
recently to celebrate the activism of the past and
promote future action. The event featured various
speakers, including Vietnam veteran Bill Johnson
and political science professor Harry Cason.
“We’re trying to bring back an antiwar atmosphere, and trying to get people to think,” said
Tara Jeanne, president of the Peace Club. Jeanne
is a senior at C.S.I. majoring in Education.
• SEEK Students Learn First-Hand About
Politics in Albany
A group of students, staff and administrators
from the College of Staten Island recently attended the 2010 Legislative Conference Weekend in
Albany, sponsored by the New York Association
of Black and Puerto Rican Legislators, Inc. The
students were joined by C.S.I. President Tomás
Morales, as well as representatives from the
SEEK Program, the C.S.I. Office of Recruitment
and Admissions, and the STEP Program. #

majors, he sees no reason to downplay their
public education. “I encourage our students to
emphasize that SUNY Plattsburgh has a strong
academic reputation in the SUNY system,” he
says emphasizing fields such as biology, journalism, communications and the professional fields
— nursing, social work and speech therapy.
Either way, the data doesn’t say as much as the
initial step into the front door. “It’s about connections and first impressions, no matter where
you went to college,” he says.
Of course, getting past the reception desk takes
an entirely different set of legwork. “What you
do is exploration activities,” he says. Rather than
just dropping resumes into Monster.com, decide
what you are looking for in a company, what

kind of work you want to do and the kind of
people you want to work with. Then identify the
companies that meet your needs, see if you can
get a look at their operation, and let them know,
he says, that you want to work for them, and you
can be an asset.
The same goes for future teachers, but Dr.
Hill sees no reason that the department should
stay put as he resumes his career next fall as a
professor of special education for Plattsburgh.
Admitting that he’s better at creating something
than maintaining it, he says, “I hope we’ve set up
enough of a culture of continuous improvement
that we can collect data and make improvements
so in five years it doesn’t look like today’s program, but something better.” #

CHOICE WORDS
by David J. Kahn
JUNE 2010

■

FOR PARENTS, EDUCATORS & STUDENTS

■

33

EDUCATION UPDATE

Janet Alperstein: Leading the Way in International Education
By JOAN BAUM, Ph.D.
Women can indeed empower other
women, especially if role models run in the family. For Dr. Janet
F. Alperstein, director of academic
affairs at the Rothberg International
School of Hebrew University of
Jerusalem, that means following
nature and nurture. Her mother, Sara,
is retired from a career in childhood
education, and her grandmother, Ruth
Suberski Goldenheim, at the age of
96 and a half, has the distinction of
being Barnard College’s oldest alum
and was chosen to lead the procession
for the installation of Barnard’s new
president, Debra Spar. A graduate of
Barnard (class of ‘92), with a major
in economics, Dr. Alperstein earned
a master’s in higher education and
then, at Columbia University, a Ph.D.
in sociology.
Though 94 years separate Ruth
Goldenheim from Dr. Alperstein’s
adopted 2-year-old son, Max, there
(L-R) Dr. Janet F. Alperstein & Sara Alperstein
has already developed a “special connection” between them. Dr. Alperstein
notes that recently, when she led a
group of academic advisors on a tour of out, “long before the word was popular”),
Jerusalem, she brought along young Max when Ruth Goldenheim must surely have warmed to
the group visited the Wall in the old Jewish Max’s expressed fondness for Israeli pizza. Of
Quarter, and shortly after that he was exclaim- course, he will have to wait a bit for another
ing “Maxie at the Wall.” For Ruth Goldenheim, on-site tasting experience since Dr. Alperstein
these words from her Guatemalan-born great- basically pursues her work on behalf of Hebrew
grandson could not, one imagines, have been University in Jerusalem at the Rothberg School
sweeter. Fluent in Spanish, an ardent Zionist office at 1 Battery Park Plaza.
and a world traveler — she was in Spain during
Named for philanthropist Samuel Rothberg
their Civil War — and a woman who always (d. 2007), a lifelong supporter of Israel and
had a passionate interest in cultural fare (a the founder of Hebrew University’s overseas
“foodie,” her granddaughter proudly points program, the Rothberg International School, a

division of the university in Jerusalem, is part
of a consortium of five Israeli universities. “An
international arena, a magnet,” as its Web site
declares, it attracts students from over 70 countries around the world who study in English.
It also offers seven M.A. degree programs —
and in an environment that is safe and secure,
Dr. Alperstein pointedly remarks. Regardless
how long students stay at Rothberg — a summer, a semester, a year — she feels they gain
a wider “perspective” on Israel and a more
fully nuanced appreciation of complexities
that sometimes escape or go unreported by the
media — the fact, for example, that Arabic can
be studied there.
StudentsJ.consistently
by David
Kahn report
that their experience at Rothberg has been “the
most exciting time of their life.” Until you live
somewhere, Dr. Alperstein says, “you really
don’t know a place.” And what better place to
want to know than Jerusalem, the confluence of
three of the world’s major religions.
Though at the helm as director of Rothberg
for only three and a half years, Dr. Alperstein,

CHOICE WORDS

1

2

By David J. Kahn (Kibbe3@aol.com)
by David J. Kahn

40 Track for harness horses

10 Garbage hauler

41 Dadaist Jean

14 Lone Star State sch.

42 Schmo

15 They may be deserted

43 Back in?

16 Mr. Peanut’s prop
17 Local grocers, maybe

47 Molnar play that inspired the
musical “Carousel”

20 Hanging at a lobster dinner?

49 Statute

21 Gladden

51 Insurgent, briefly

22 Follow the game?

52 Hawaii’s state bird

23 Grand ___ Opry

53 See 56-Down

24 With 25-Across, Tony winner for
“Sweeney Todd”

55 Not waste

25 See 24-Across

59 Cartoon canine

27 Belgrade natives

60 For the birds?

29 Cross words

61 Eyeball

31 Bismarck’s predecessor?

62 Freshman, probably

32 Oven pan

63 They’re for the birds

35 All there

64 Dandelion, say

56 Wishes heard in May ... or June

FOR PUZZLE ANSWERS
GO TO
www.EducationUpdate.com/puzzle

8

9

10

15

21

22

23

24

27

29
33

13

26

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31

34

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59

12

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32

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56

5 Moon follower

7

19

ACROSS

39 ___ Horn

6

18

47

36 Comic couple of ’50s movies

5

17

David J. Kahn has been dazzling crossword puzzle fans with his creations for many years. Almost 150 of his puzzles have appeared
in the New York Times, with many others in the Los Angeles Times, the New York Sun and other newspapers and magazines. His books
include Baseball Crosswords, Sit & Solve Hard Crosswords and Sit & Solve Movie Crosswords.

1 Sparklers

4

14

36

CHOICE WORDS
CHOICE WORDS

3

who previously was dean for the study abroad
program at Barnard, has already made a mark
on programs affecting the school’s 2,200 students, half of whom are American. In particular, she has introduced online enhancements
that put Rothberg right on Google’s front
pages and connect the school with Facebook.
Programmatic changes include collaboration
with Harvard on Spring in Jerusalem, which
has just begun. Other initiatives involve a joint
program with the Jerusalem Academy of Music
and Dance, of special importance to dance
majors, who before this had few study abroad
options. As for Rothberg’s M.A. graduates in
general, they typically go on to Ph.D. programs
in Israel or the Diaspora and tend to work for
nonprofits and NGOs.
According to a FAQ on its Web site, it costs
approximately $22,000 to study at Rothberg
for a year (costs include tuition, room, and living expenses, including food and local travel
expenses). For details, readers should check out
the Web site or call (212) 607-8520. #

REVIEW OF To Teach:
The Journey Of A Teacher
Published by Teachers College Press, Columbia University,
New York and London. May 2010: 190 pp

By MERRI ROSENBERG
William Ayers is more than the controversial
school reform activist and education professor at
the University of Illinois at Chicago who became
a lightning rod during President Barack Obama’s
election campaign in 2008.
ng
What this challenging, compelling
xt
volume (it’s the third edition of a text
originally published in 1993) revealss
o
is the spirit and soul of a teacher who
g
refuses to give in to mind-numbing
bureaucracy, who views his role ass
maintaining faith with both his students and his own core values.
As Ayers writes, “Teaching is powered by a common faith: When I
look out at my students, I assume
the full humanity of each. I see
hopes and dreams, aspirations and
needs, experiences and intentions
that must somehow be accounted
for and valued. I encounter citizens not consumers,
unruly sparks of meaning-making energy and not a
mess of deficits. This is the evidence of things not
seen, the starting point for teachers in our democratic society.”
Ayers recognizes that teaching, and teachers,
are all too often underpaid, undervalued and dismissed — or worse, blamed — for whatever seems
to go wrong in society. “Teachers are desperately

By H. Harris Healy, III,

It takes more than an apple to reach today’s teachers.

It takes...

New York Teacher
The most widely-circulated bi-weekly
in the field of education in the
United States.
The official publication of the New A
udaci
ty
York State United Teachers.
to
Read by 600,000 professionals in
education and health care.
An alert, perceptive and
influential audience.

Spring has arrived. Now is the time many of
us feel energetic to pursue multiple projects and
activities, maybe even reinvigorate our commitment to our new year’s resolutions.
Turner Publishing, in its Trade Paper Press
imprint, has published several topical titles dealing with projects and life situations that people
may be pursuing or encountering in their daily
experience. These titles are 35 Things Your Teen
Won’t Tell You, So I Will by Ellen Pober Rittberg,
(a book signing was held recently at the store),
41 Things To Know About Autism by Chantal
Sicile-Kira, 5 Things To Know for Successful
and Lasting Weight Loss by Fran DiVecchio, 99
Things to Save Money in Your Household Budget
by Mary Hance (a.k.a. Ms. Cheap), 51 Things
You Should Know Before Getting Engaged by
Michael Batshaw, and 21 Things To Create a
Better Life by Tod Bottorff. All of these books are
practical and most helpful and informative about
the topics they cover. At $9.99 each, these books
are great bargains for the information provided.
May and June are months of celebrations:
Mother’s Day, Baptism, Confirmation, First
Communion, Graduation and Father’s Day. There
are books, greeting cards and gift items appropriate for these occasions at Logos Bookstore.
As the weather gets warmer Logos is able to
hold more of its regular meetings outside on the
patio. Kill Your TV Reading Group’s April and
May meetings were held there. The Wednesday,
June 2, 2010 meeting will cover The Woman In
White by Wilkie Collins, and the July 7. 2010
meeting will cover Our Man In Havana by
Graham Greene. It is hoped the weather will be
good enough to have these meetings outside on
the patio as well.
Please do look at the list below for all Logos’
activities and come in and shop!
Upcoming Events at Logos Bookstore
Mon., May 10, 2010, 7 p.m.: The Sacred Texts
Group, led by Richard Curtis, will continue its

discussion of the Gospel Of John and the Talmud.
Tuesday, May 18, 2010, 7 p.m.: Sit-n-Knit
will meet.
Wednesday, June 2, 2010, 7 p.m.: Kill Your TV
Reading Group will discuss The Woman In White
by Wilkie Collins.
Wednesday, July 7, 2010, 7 p.m.: Kill Your TV
Reading Group will discuss Our Man In Havana
by Graham Greene.
Every Monday at 11 a.m. is Story Time, led
by Lily.
Transit: 4.5.6 Subways to Lexington Ave. and
86th St., M86 Bus (86th St.), M79 Bus (79th
St.), M31 Bus (York Ave.), M15 Bus (1st and
2nd Aves.)

Union
challenges
midyear state
budget cuts
Page 3

Health
Take officials
with no chance :
swin
e flu s
Page
4

Preschool
(212) 229-9340

CHEC
KO

How
to
a cont negotia
downt ract in a te
urn ec
Page
onom
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JUNE 2010

Logos Bookstore’s Recommendations

needed who will approach the work with passion
and commitment, with a focus on the lives of their
students and the crying needs of a world out of
balance. Teaching is the necessary calling of our
age,” he asserts.
Such missionary zeal would no doubt ignite
similar enthusiasm in young teachers who need to
justify their career choice to parents or professors.
There’s no shortage of passion, or strong opinions, in this text. Mandates, assessments, labeling
children, restrictive curriculum — it’s not surprising that Ayers chafes and rails against these
imposition As a champion of what he
impositions.
calls a “democratic classroom”
that embraces and understands the
“whole child,” some of his ideas
m
may simply seem unrealistic to
tthose working in the field. For
eexample, his comment, that “For all
cchildren, it is better to have a caring,
se
self-aware teacher who is haphazard
w
when it comes to record-keeping
th
than a detailed and particular recordke
keeper who is careless about kids,”
pro
probably wouldn’t help job prospects
or security for a young teacher.
IIn his quest to create truly democrat
cratic classrooms (Ayers invites his
students to help design the space, and
uses the same desk that they do) that are “laboratories for discovery and surprise,” Ayers wants teachers to question everything.
What’s unquestionable is Ayers’ unwavering,
passionate dedication to his students. New teachers could do much worse than to emulate him in
that regard, no matter what approach they take in
their classrooms. #

MONKEY SHINES
By JAN AARON
Curious George, the monumental mischief-maker, made his literary entrance in 1941. Today this
book is a beloved classic of childrenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s literature,
and in its 71st printing. With his creators, he shares
top billing in a new show, â&#x20AC;&#x153;Curious George Saves
the Day: The Art of Margret and H.A. Rey,â&#x20AC;? at the
Jewish Museum.
Like the wonderful shows the museum mounted
for author-illustrators William Steig and Maurice
Sendak, this exhibit has multigenerational appeal.
Little children will be delighted when they see that
the imaginative entrance to the show looks like the
Paris in the first Curious George book. Midway
through, they can enjoy a cushioned reading nook
with an array of Rey books. At the preview I attended, a little girl with her adult companions already
was plopped down enjoying them.
Older children and adults will be captivated by
more than 80 final watercolors and drawings from
books about Curious George. They also will discover some of his predecessors: a penguin named
Whiteback and a giraffe called Raffy. In fact,
Georgeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s first appearance was as a bit player in a
book titled Raffy and the Nine Monkeys, when he
was named Fifi.
The exhibit also features extensive biographical information on the Reys. Most compelling
is their journey that brought them to America in
1940, a heartbeat away from the Nazi occupation

AT THE

of Paris. Both Reys were German Jews. Their
original names were Hans Agusto Reyersbach and
Margarete Waldstein. Hans was a self-taught artist, but Margret had studied at the famed Bauhaus
School. The couple married in Rio de Janeiro,
where Hansâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; father had business interests. Curious
George was born from sketches Hans made on trips
into the rain forest. (Peculiarly, George was never
endowed with a monkey essential: a tail.)
With Hans in charge of drawings and Margret
doing the text, the couple turned out seven books
while living Paris, from 1936 to 1940. Fleeing
Paris on bicycles, they escaped being detained at
a border crossing. When their luggage revealed
they were transporting childrenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s art, they were
waved through. Their journey ended in New York,
where Houghton Mifflin published the first Curious
George book.
The first book, with its Paris setting, calls to mind
Babar, the star of a show at the Morgan Library
a while back. Like Babar in 1931, George came
straight from jungle to sophisticated life in Paris and
had a lot of adjusting to do. They both had protectors: Babar had the Old Lady, and George had the
man with the yellow hat.
There the similarities cease: Babar dressed in
fashionable clothes and learned to drive a car.
He also returned to the jungle, where he became
king. George never grows up; he is eternally a
mischievous child. He romps around, sets off a fire

JEWISH MUSEUM

alarm, peeks into a pot of spaghetti, does tricks on
his bicycle, and climbs a tree in a natural history
museum. But no matter what mess he gets into, he
is rescued by the man with the yellow hat.
Amazingly, the books do not mirror the dark

times in which they were written, nor do they reflect
the personal reasons the Reys had to flee as Jews.
The Jewish Museum is located at 1109 Fifth
Avenue, at 92nd Street, and the exhibit will run
until August 1. #

America’s Leading College for Students
with Learning Disabilities and AD/HD

2010 Summer Programs
For High School & College Students Who Learn Differently
• For Rising Juniors & Seniors in High School
June 27 – July 17, 2010
Offered at Landmark College in Putney, Vermont and
Southern Oregon University in Ashland, Oregon

Learn why students from throughout
the United States and abroad come
to Landmark’s Summer Programs.

• For College-Bound High School Graduates
July 18 – July 31, 2010
A Transition to College Program

• For Visiting College Students
July 3 – August 7, 2010
Focused on building reading, comprehension,
writing and executive function skills

Download our Summer Brochure and Application
today at www.landmark.edu/summer
or contact us at 802-387-6718.